Sample records for river meander migration

Meanderingrivers are dynamic agents of geomorphic change that rework landscapes through migration while maintaining beautiful looping planforms. This work investigates the relationships between the alluring planform geometries of meanderingrivers, the dynamics of individual meander bend migration, and the dynamic processes driving meander evolution. A simple yet physically-based model of long-time meandermigration is employed to understand the dynamic trajectories of individual meander bends and establish relationships between historic dynamics and cutoff bend geometry. At the reach scale, concepts from nonlinear dynamic theory are applied to river centerlines to determine if the dynamic nonlinearities driving meander evolution are preserved in the reachwide planform structure. Understanding how rivers move across their floodplains requires snapshots of planforms over long time periods from aerial photography or historic maps and surveys which are often taken at irregular and long intervals. Migration occurring between snapshots has thus largely remained a mystery. More recently, worldwide satellite imagery collected at least every 18 days by the NASA Landsat family of satellites offers the potential to reveal the secret lives of migrating, meanderingrivers. This research mines the vault of Landsat imagery to resolve over 30 years of planform migration along more than 1,300 km of one of the Earth's most active meanderingrivers: the Ucayali River in Peru. Analysis of the resulting annual binary channel masks suggests that migration rates are controlled by processes acting across bend-to-reach scales. An exciting new geomorphic discovery emerges from the analysis revealing the role of cutoffs as drivers of nonlocal morphodynamic change.

The RVR Meander platform for computing long-term meandering-channel migration is presented, together with a method for planform migration based on the modeling of the streambank erosion processes of hydraulic erosion and mass failure. An application to a real-world river, with assumption of homogene...

The striking geometric regularity of a winding river is no accident. Meanders appear to be the form in which a river does the least work in turning; hence they are the most probable form a river can take

Most river curves have nearly the same value of the ratio of curvature radius to channel width, in the range of 2 to 3. Meanders formed by meltwater on the surface of glaciers, and by the main current of the Gulf Stream, have a relation of meander length to channel width similar to rivers. Because such meanders carry no sediment, the shapes of curves in rivers are evidently determined primarily by the dynamics of flow rather than by relation to debris load.Velocity distributions along river curves provide a generalized picture of flow characteristics. Evidence on flow resistance in curved channels suggests that a basic aspect of meander mechanics may be related to the distribution of energy loss provided by a particular configuration or curvature. No general theory of meanders is as yet satisfactory, however; in fact, present evidence suggests that no single theory will explain the formation and characteristics of all meanders and that few of the physical principles involved have yet been clearly identified.

Erosion from the banks of meanderingrivers causes a local influx of sediment to the river channel. Most of the eroded volume is usually replaced in nearby point bars. However, the typical geometry of river bends precludes the local replacement of all eroded material because (i) point bars tend to be built to a lower elevation than cutbanks and (ii) point bars tend to be shorter than the eroding portion of cutbanks because of channel curvature. In a floodplain that is in equilibrium (i.e., neither increasing nor decreasing in volume), sediment eroded from cut banks must be replaced elsewhere on the floodplain. The local imbalance caused by differences in bank height should be balanced primarily by overbank deposition, while the local imbalance caused by curvature should be balanced primarily by deposition in abandoned stream courses or oxbow lakes. Estimates of these local imbalances based on remotely sensed measurements of bank geometry and channel migration have been made on four systems in the United States: a 91-km reach of the Pearl River in Louisiana and Mississippi, a 62-km reach of the Bogue Chitto River in Louisiana, a 35-km reach of the Neuse River in North Carolina, and a 2.7-km reach of the Vermillion River in Minnesota. For these systems, the total local imbalance, integrated over many bends, ranged from 0.36 to 2.27 m 3/yr/m of valley length (0.15 to 1.32 m 3/yr/m of channel length), or 7 to 45% of gross cutbank erosion, with a typical value of about 17%. When compared with gauged suspended sediment data, the measurements provide estimates of the relative importance of floodplains for storing material transported by a river system. The data suggest that even if the studied systems are near long-term mass balance equilibrium (as opposed to undergoing net deposition or erosion), almost all of the sand and in some cases much of the silt and clay in transit through these systems is likely to have spent some time stored in an upstream floodplain.

A meandering channel has developed in the middle Tarim River, the longest inland river flowing through a hyperarid environment in northwestern China. Although the drainage basin of the Tarim River extends over 1 million km2, flow in downstream reaches is largely restricted to summer months, and irrigation pressures have made the flood season increasingly short. The planform morphology, lateral migration rate, and cutoffs of 105 meanders were analysed using multiperiod remote sensing images and field survey analyses of channel bed and bank properties and of riparian vegetation cover. Results show that planform attributes of the meandering Tarim River are similar to those found in other environments. The ratio of the channel centreline length to the neck channel width of meanders ranges between 1.2 and 8.1, the bend curvature (ratio of bend radius to channel width) ranges between 0.30 and 2.8, and the average deflection angle of the bend apexes is 79.9°. Meandermigration rates range from 1.4 to 96.7 m y- 1. From 2000 to 2013, 45 cutoffs occurred along the 400-km-long reach. As the riparian vegetation cover is sparse because of limited precipitation and because banks are comprised of dense roots, fine sand and silt materials, but lack clay, bank strength is limited and presents limited constraints upon bend movement.

Freely-meandering natural rivers typically evolve into complex planforms characterized by compound loops or multilobes or into irregular patterns. It is widely acknowledged that spatial heterogeneity in floodplain erodibility should affect the planform evolution of meanderingrivers; however, past studies have not systematically explored the importance of this effect. In this study, we systematically analyze how the scale, magnitude, and stochasticity of floodplain erosional variability influence meander evolution and the emergence of bend complexity and planform irregularity. We employ a physically-based model of meander morphodynamics and stochastically-generated heterogeneous landscapes with a range of spatial scales that represent spatial heterogeneity (i.e., patchiness) in floodplain erosional resistance. The heterogeneous mosaics of differential resistance with different scales of patchiness are meant to represent spatial arrangements of factors influencing migration and varying with scale, such as sedimentological complexity, patches of floodplain vegetation, and human activities. We also evaluate the effects of stochasticity in bank erodibility on the spatial characteristics of planform evolution. The results show that both the spatial scale of heterogeneity and the magnitude of variability in erodibility have a strong influence on meander evolution. The planform morphologies generated by simulations with spatially-heterogeneous landscapes are remarkably similar, both visually and in their spectral signatures, to those of natural meanderingrivers. Landscapes with patch sizes larger than the initial meander size promote the evolution of highly elongated, upstream-skewed meanders with high variability in amplitudes. As patch size becomes smaller than the initial meander size, bend complexity and planform irregularities increase, resulting in downstream-skewed bends and compound loops or multilobes. Fine-grained heterogeneity results in meanders similar to

Channel migration is the primary mechanism of floodplain turnover in meanderingrivers and is essential to the persistence of riparian ecosystems. Channel migration is driven by river flows, but short-term records cannot disentangle the effects of land use, flow diversion, past floods, and climate change. We used three data sets to quantify nearly two centuries of channel migration on the Powder River in Montana. The most precise data set came from channel cross sections measured an average of 21 times from 1975 to 2014. We then extended spatial and temporal scales of analysis using aerial photographs (1939–2013) and by aging plains cottonwoods along transects (1830–2014). Migration rates calculated from overlapping periods across data sets mostly revealed cross-method consistency. Data set integration revealed that migration rates have declined since peaking at 5 m/year in the two decades after the extreme 1923 flood (3000 m3/s). Averaged over the duration of each data set, cross section channel migration occurred at 0.81 m/year, compared to 1.52 m/year for the medium-length air photo record and 1.62 m/year for the lengthy cottonwood record. Powder River peak annual flows decreased by 48% (201 vs. 104 m3/s) after the largest flood of the post-1930 gaged record (930 m3/s in 1978). Declining peak discharges led to a 53% reduction in channel width and a 29% increase in sinuosity over the 1939–2013 air photo record. Changes in planform geometry and reductions in channel migration make calculations of floodplain turnover rates dependent on the period of analysis. We found that the intensively studied last four decades do not represent the past two centuries

Channel migration is the primary mechanism of floodplain turnover in meanderingrivers and is essential to the persistence of riparian ecosystems. Channel migration is driven by river flows, but short-term records cannot disentangle the effects of land use, flow diversion, past floods, and climate change. We used three data sets to quantify nearly two centuries of channel migration on the Powder River in Montana. The most precise data set came from channel cross sections measured an average of 21 times from 1975 to 2014. We then extended spatial and temporal scales of analysis using aerial photographs (1939-2013) and by aging plains cottonwoods along transects (1830-2014). Migration rates calculated from overlapping periods across data sets mostly revealed cross-method consistency. Data set integration revealed that migration rates have declined since peaking at 5 m/year in the two decades after the extreme 1923 flood (3000 m3/s). Averaged over the duration of each data set, cross section channel migration occurred at 0.81 m/year, compared to 1.52 m/year for the medium-length air photo record and 1.62 m/year for the lengthy cottonwood record. Powder River peak annual flows decreased by 48% (201 vs. 104 m3/s) after the largest flood of the post-1930 gaged record (930 m3/s in 1978). Declining peak discharges led to a 53% reduction in channel width and a 29% increase in sinuosity over the 1939-2013 air photo record. Changes in planform geometry and reductions in channel migration make calculations of floodplain turnover rates dependent on the period of analysis. We found that the intensively studied last four decades do not represent the past two centuries.

The floodplains of meanderingrivers represent reservoirs that both store and release sediment. Bed material is generally released from cut banks and replaced in nearby point bars wherever migration occurs. Measuring the associated bed material flux is important for tracing the movement of contaminants that may be mixed with the bed material. Approximations of this flux can be made using a representative channel depth and sequences of aerial photography to estimate average absolute migration rates (or reworked areas) between photographs. Error in the aerial photographs leads to a positive bias in computed release rates. A method for removing this bias is introduced that uses the apparent offset of fixed linear features such as roads (along smaller rivers) or abandoned channel courses (along larger rivers). Measuring the rate of release of fine sediment is important both for predicting the long term morphodynamic evolution of the channel/floodplain system and for tracing the movement of contaminants that may be adsorbed to the fine sediment. While fine sediment can be mixed throughout the depth of the floodplain, it is most concentrated in the upper portion of older parts of the floodplain where it has had time to accumulate through overbank deposition. Its release rate can be estimated using migration rates computed from aerial photography in combination with local measurements of bank topography, both of which are highly variable even within a given reach. Where detailed bank topography is available for an entire reach, estimating the release of fine sediment is relatively straightforward. However, detailed topography is often unavailable along the banks of large lowland rivers, forcing estimates of the fine material flux to be made using a relatively small number of physically surveyed cross-sections. It is not immediately clear how many cross sections are required for a good estimate. This study performs Monte Carlo simulations on a detailed topographic dataset

Meandermigrations on the Mississippi River between Cairo, Illinois and Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the time period between the years 1765 and 1930 were classified into six categories based on the nature of channel movements. During the time period between 1765 and 1900, man's disturbance on this river reach was relatively minor. This study was mainly based on measurements taken in the years 1765, 1825, 1887 and 1930. The six categories of meandermigration were: downstream limb migration, downstream limb rotation, mainly upstream limb migration, upstream limb rotation, pure translation and pure expansion. It was determined that over 60% of future meandermigrations could be predicted from the characteristics of each individual initial channel pattern.

The ongoing modification and resulting reduction in water quality of U.S. rivers have led to a significant increase in river restoration projects over the last two decades. The increased interest in restoring degraded streams, however, has not necessarily led to improved stream function. Palmer and Allan (2005) found that many restoration projects fail to achieve their objectives due to the lack of policies to support restoration standards, to promote proven methods and to provide basic data needed for planning and implementation. Proven models of in-stream and riparian processes could be used not only to guide the design of restoration projects but also to assess both pre- and post-project indicators of ecological integrity. One of the most difficult types of river restoration projects concern reconstructing a new channel, often with an alignment and channel form different from those of the degraded pre-project channel. Recreating a meandering planform to provide longitudinal and lateral variability of flow and bed morphology to improve in-stream aquatic habitat is often desired. Channel meander planform is controlled by a multitude of variables, for example channel width to depth ratio, radius of curvature to channel width ratio, bankfull discharge, roughness, bed-material physical characteristics, bed material transport, resistance to erosion of the floodplain soils, riparian vegetation, etc. Therefore, current practices that use simple, empirically based relationships or reference reaches have led to failure in several instances, for example a washing out of meander bends or a highly unstable planform, because they fail to address the site-specific conditions. Recently, progress has been made to enhance a physically- and process-based model, RVR Meander, for rapid analysis of meanderingriver morphodynamics with reduced empiricism. For example, lateral migration is based on measurable physical properties of the floodplain soils and riparian vegetation versus

Fluvial systems form landscapes and sedimentary deposits with a rich hierarchy of structures that extend from grain- to valley scale. Large-scale pattern formation in fluvial systems is commonly attributed to forcing by external factors, including climate change, tectonic uplift, and sea-level change. Yet over geologic timescales, rivers may also develop large-scale erosional and depositional patterns that do not bear on environmental history. This dissertation uses a combination of numerical modeling and topographic analysis to identify and quantify patterns in river valleys that form as a consequence of rivermeandering alone, under constant external forcing. Chapter 2 identifies a numerical artifact in existing, grid-based models that represent the co-evolution of river channel migration and bank strength over geologic timescales. A new, vector-based technique for bank-material tracking is shown to improve predictions for the evolution of meander belts, floodplains, sedimentary deposits formed by aggrading channels, and bedrock river valleys, particularly when spatial contrasts in bank strength are strong. Chapters 3 and 4 apply this numerical technique to establishing valley topography formed by a vertically incising, meanderingriver subject to constant external forcing---which should serve as the null hypothesis for valley evolution. In Chapter 3, this scenario is shown to explain a variety of common bedrock river valley types and smaller-scale features within them---including entrenched channels, long-wavelength, arcuate scars in valley walls, and bedrock-cored river terraces. Chapter 4 describes the age and geometric statistics of river terraces formed by meandering with constant external forcing, and compares them to terraces in natural river valleys. The frequency of intrinsic terrace formation by meandering is shown to reflect a characteristic relief-generation timescale, and terrace length is identified as a key criterion for distinguishing these

The impact of horizontal heterogeneity of floodplain soils on rates and patterns of meandermigration is analyzed with a Ikeda et al. (1981)-type model for hydrodynamics and bed morphodynamics, coupled with a physically-based bank erosion model according to the approach developed by Motta et al. (20...

Environmental legislation in the US (i.e. NEPA) requires defining baseline conditions on current rather than historical ecosystem conditions. For ecosystems with long histories of multiple environmental impacts, this baseline method can subsequently lead to a significantly altered environment; this has been termed a ‘sliding baseline’. In river systems, cumulative effects caused by flow regulation, channel revetment and riparian vegetation removal significantly impact floodplain ecosystems by altering channel dynamics and precluding subsequent ecosystem processes, such as primary succession. To quantify these impacts on floodplain development processes, we used a model of river channel meandermigration to illustrate the degree to which flow regulation and riprap impact migration rates, independently and synergistically, on the Sacramento River in California, USA. From pre-dam conditions, the cumulative effect of flow regulation alone on channel migration is a reduction by 38%, and 42–44% with four proposed water diversion project scenarios. In terms of depositional area, the proposed water project would reduce channel migration 51–71 ha in 130 years without current riprap in place, and 17–25 ha with riprap. Our results illustrate the utility of a modeling approach for quantifying cumulative impacts. Model-based quantification of environmental impacts allow scientists to separate cumulative and synergistic effects to analytically define mitigation measures. Additionally, by selecting an ecosystem process that is affected by multiple impacts, it is possible to consider process-based mitigation scenarios, such as the removal of riprap, to allow meandermigration and create new floodplains and allow for riparian vegetation recruitment. PMID:24964145

Environmental legislation in the US (i.e. NEPA) requires defining baseline conditions on current rather than historical ecosystem conditions. For ecosystems with long histories of multiple environmental impacts, this baseline method can subsequently lead to a significantly altered environment; this has been termed a 'sliding baseline'. In river systems, cumulative effects caused by flow regulation, channel revetment and riparian vegetation removal significantly impact floodplain ecosystems by altering channel dynamics and precluding subsequent ecosystem processes, such as primary succession. To quantify these impacts on floodplain development processes, we used a model of river channel meandermigration to illustrate the degree to which flow regulation and riprap impact migration rates, independently and synergistically, on the Sacramento River in California, USA. From pre-dam conditions, the cumulative effect of flow regulation alone on channel migration is a reduction by 38%, and 42-44% with four proposed water diversion project scenarios. In terms of depositional area, the proposed water project would reduce channel migration 51-71 ha in 130 years without current riprap in place, and 17-25 ha with riprap. Our results illustrate the utility of a modeling approach for quantifying cumulative impacts. Model-based quantification of environmental impacts allow scientists to separate cumulative and synergistic effects to analytically define mitigation measures. Additionally, by selecting an ecosystem process that is affected by multiple impacts, it is possible to consider process-based mitigation scenarios, such as the removal of riprap, to allow meandermigration and create new floodplains and allow for riparian vegetation recruitment.

Meandermigration is the principal process controlling how river channels lengthen through time; despite this universal observation, little analysis has been dedicated to evaluating the mechanisms by which meanders accomplish this lengthening. Using an almost yearly archive of Landsat imagery, we show that meanderingrivers in the Andes-Foreland Basin of the Amazon Basin lengthen linearly with centreline migration rate, in the absence of cutoff events. We characterised the dominant meander movement mechanism by defining an index we term the symmetry index. The index measures the ratio between downstream and upstream meander erosion about the apex and bounded by inflection points. Indices greater than one represent more translational meander deformation, that is, downstream migration, whereas indices close to one indicate more extensional migration (i.e., increasing meander amplitude). We expanded our dataset to 25 reaches from varying physiographic provinces across the basin. Our results suggest that rivers located in sediment-rich regions migrate more rapidly, and possess higher symmetry indices indicative of more translational bend development. Conversely, rivers with low sediment yields show more extensional bend development. Since alluvial material is responsible for the construction of point bars, rivers conveying larger sediment fluxes have the ability to build bars more quickly. Point bar growth increases channel curvature and deflects high-velocity fluid towards the outer bank encouraging bank erosion. An analysis of point bar locations along the banks of two meandering streams shows that bars positioned downstream of the apex correlate with bends that undergo translational development, whilst material deposited in the centre and upstream of the apex show more extensional and lobing evolution. These results suggest that point bar growth and its relationship to the sediment budget of rivers play an important role in meandermigration.

The serpentine windings of rivers, which in certain reaches attain a remarkable symmetry and are then called meanders, must represent one aspect of the tendency for establishment of quasi-equilibrium in natural streams. With the increase in knowledge of the interaction of forces operating in rivers, this tendency toward equilibrium has assumed a greater significance.

Floodplains and sinuous rivers have a close relationship with each other, mutually influencing their evolutions in time and space. The heterogeneity in erosional resistance has a crucial role on meander planform evolution. It depends on external factors, like land use and cover, but also on the composition of the floodplain, which is due to the ancient geological composition and to the processes associated to long-term rivermigration. In particular, banks erosion and deposition cause a variation of the superficial composition of the soil, therefore the river patterns are influenced by the previous trends. Based on some recent works, the aim of this contribution is to collect numerical information on the relations between meandermigration and the heterogeneity of floodplains caused by oxbow lakes. Numerical simulations have been performed to analyze the temporal and spatial behavior of meanders with a range of values of the erosional resistance of the plain. These values are set as a function of some factors: the characteristic grain size of sediment transported by the flow, the deposition age of the sediments, the eventual presence of vegetation on the banks. The statistical analysis of characteristic geometrical quantities of meanders are able to show the dependence of the simulation results on the meander history. In particular we try to answer to the following questions: how do the rivers affect themselves during their spatial and temporal evolution, modifying the distribution of the floodplain erodibility? Do the migration history plays a main role on the meandersmigration modeling?

Bar formation is an integral part of the morphodynamics of meanderingrivers. Various theories predict bar formation and experimental and numerical simulations have produced bar forms. Various types of free and forced bars occur, associated with various stages of meander development and with meander morphology, as well as sediment supply. In some cases bars have been shown to move through channel systems, usually as parts of sediment waves. Data are still sparse on timescales and lifecycles of bar formation and integration into floodplains and on variability of bar formation over time. The extent to which bar behaviour conforms with theory and its contribution to meander morphodynamics are examined and quantified using data derived from photogrammetric mapping of courses at four dates and annual ground mapping along the course of an active meanderingriver over a period of nearly 30 years. The distribution, occurrence and types of bars are examined in relation to the position in the planform, the channel curvature and channel width and in relation to channel changes and bank erosion. Using GIS, the sizes and position of bars are tracked over time. Point bars (forced) emerge, as expected, as major components, but their degree of development varies in different types of bend. Temporal variation in activity and calibre of sediment varies with discharge events but also stage of development of bars. Mid-channel bars arise at certain points, largely associated with excessive erosion and widening of the channel. They exhibit a lifecycle of formation lasting a few years on the study river. Concave bank bars are also an important component of sedimentation and occur in zones of rapid migration. Formation is slower and comprises finer sediment than other bars. Free bars show little sign of moving through the bend forms and remain stable in position. They significantly affect bend morphology but interaction is complex through feedbacks. Free bars may not always persist and

The interaction between meanderingriver channels and inerodible valley walls provides a useful test of our ability to understand meander dynamics. In some cases, rivermeanders confined between valley walls display distinctive angular bends in a dynamic equilibrium such that their size and shape persist as the meandermigrates. In other cases, meander geometry is more varied and changes as the meandermigrates. The ratio of channel to valley width has been identified as a useful parameter for defining confined meanders, but is not sufficient to distinguish cases in which sharp angular bends are able to migrate with little change in geometry. Here, we examine the effect of water and sediment supply on the geometry of confined rivers in order to identify conditions under which meander geometry reaches a persistent dynamic equilibrium. Because channel width and meander geometry are closely related, we use a numerical meander model that allows for independent migration of both banks, thereby allowing channel width to vary in space and time. We hypothesize that confined meanders with persistent angular bends have smaller transport rates of bed material and that their migration is driven by erosion of the cutbank (bank-pull migration). When bed material supply is sufficiently large that point bar deposition drives meandermigration (bar-push migration), confined meander bends have a larger radius of curvature and a geometry that varies as the meandermigrates. We test this hypothesis using historical patterns of confined meandermigration for rivers with different rates of sediment supply and bed material transport. Interpretation of the meandermigration pattern is provided by the free-width meandermigration model.

Sinuous channels shaped by periodically reversing tidal flows are a ubiquitous feature of tidal landscapes. Despite their fundamental role on the morphology and sedimentary patterns of these landscapes, tidal meanders have received less attention than their fluvial counterparts, particularly as far as migration processes are concerned. We have analyzed the migration of about 300 meander bends in the Northern Venice Lagoon (Italy), from 1968 to nowadays, through observations and modeling interpretation. Similarities with fluvial meanders occur, although important difference also emerge. Meanders cutting through salt-marshes in the Venice Lagoon follow the relationship between Cartesian length and channel width, typical of meanders developed within different settings. We find a mean migration rate of about 0.20 m/year. However, the potential migration rate can reach values of about 0.20 channel widths per year thus suggesting similarities with fluvial meanders. In addition, tidal channel migration dynamics displays features which qualitatively agree with theories developed for the fluvial setting. We deem our results are valuable for the understanding of the morphological evolution and architecture of tidal landscapes, with implications for restoration strategies, also in the face of changes in environmental conditions.

A meanderingriver is a nonlinear dynamic system, and fractal geometry describes well the meander bends of such rivers. Based on a qualitative, sedimentological model of the process of meandering, a chaos model is proposed, describing meandering as the outcome of two processes: the feedback interaction between river curvature and a high-velocity thalweg channel within the river; and the interaction between meander bends causing abandonment and straightening of the river course. The system, when initiated from a nearly straight river course, moves toward a dynamic equilibrium in which the meander bends are fractal. This development is a case of self-organized criticality. The equilibrium represents a state of optimal energy dissipation in a situation where two counteracting processes are balancing each other. Sedimentology may be seen as the science that describes how nonlinear dynamic processes interact to create a depositional system. As indicated by the example of meanderingrivers, the use of chaos and fractal models may give sedimentology a new turn toward understanding sedimentary processes and the 3-D architecture of sediment bodies.

Meanders are the result of erosion-deposition processes tending toward the most stable form in which the variability of certain essential properties is minimized. This minimization involves the adjustment of the planimetric geometry and the hydraulic factors of depth, velocity, and local slope.The planimetric geometry of a meander is that of a random walk whose most frequent form minimizes the sum of the squares of the changes in direction in each successive unit length. The direction angles are then sine functions of channel distance. This yields a meander shape typically present in meanderingrivers and has the characteristic that the ratio of meander length to average radius of curvature in the bend is 4.7.Depth, velocity, and slope are shown by field observations to be adjusted so as to decrease the variance of shear and the friction factor in a meander curve over that in an otherwise comparable straight reach of the same riverSince theory and observation indicate meanders achieve the minimum variance postulated, it follows that for channels in which alternating pools and riffles occur, meandering is the most probable form of channel geometry and thus is more stable geometry than a straight or nonmeandering alinement.

By providing a transportation network and access to floodplains, tropical meanderingrivers are often centers of deforestation, but the implications of such land clearance on meanderingriver dynamics remain largely unknown despite significant progress in our understanding of the role of trees in riverbank stability. Here, we document land-cover change and corresponding average annual rates of channel migration along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia, from Landsat imagery spanning 1989-2014. We estimate that deforestation has removed over half of the river's floodplain forest and up to 30% of its riparian cover within our study reaches. We find that this land-cover transformation has resulted in a significant increase in rates of channel migration after deforestation. Further to this, we find that the clearing of riparian forest greatly increased the sensitivity of rivermeandering to the curvature-driven forcing of river flows, with potential implications for the successful management of tropical river environments.

The role of externally imposed sediment supplies on the evolution of meanderingrivers and their floodplains is poorly understood, despite analytical advances in our physical understanding of rivermeandering. The Amazon river basin hosts tributaries that are largely unaffected by engineering controls and hold a range of sediment loads, allowing us to explore the influence that sediment supply has on river evolution. Here we calculate average annual rates of meandermigration within 20 reaches in the Amazon Basin from Landsat imagery spanning 1985-2013. We find that rivers with high sediment loads experience annual migration rates that are higher than those of rivers with lower sediment loads. Meander cutoff also occurs more frequently along rivers with higher sediment loads. Differences in meandermigration and cutoff rates between the study reaches are not explained by differences in channel slope or river discharge. Because faster meandermigration and higher cutoff rates lead to increased sediment-storage space in the resulting oxbows, we suggest that sediment supply modulates the reshaping of floodplain environments by meanderingrivers. We conclude that imposed sediment loads influence planform changes in lowland rivers across the Amazon.

The fully nonlinear simulation of the lateral migration of meandering channels, combined with an analytical description of the linearized flow field, gives a powerful and yet computationally accessible tool to investigate short and long term evolution of alluvial rivers. In the present contribution we focus on the long term behavior of meanderingrivers. This class of dynamical systems is driven by the coexistence of various intrinsically nonlinear mechanisms which determine the possible occurrence of two different morphodynamic regimes: the sub-resonant and the super-resonant regime. Investigating the full range of morphodynamic conditions, we end up with a new morphodynamic length scale associated with spatially oscillating disturbances, accounting for both curvature-forced variations in velocity and depth and alternate bars. Once normalized with this length scale, the relevant morphologic features of the simulated long term patterns (i.e. the probability density function of the local channel curvature and the geometric characteristics of the oxbow lakes) tend to collapse on two distinct behaviors, depending on the dominant morphologic regime. The long term rivermeandering dynamics is then investigated. The occurrence of cutoff events is a key mechanism in the dynamics of these systems. They introduce a strong source of nonlinearity in the evolution of rivermeandering, which strongly contributes to the formation of the complex planform patterns usually observed in nature. To detect the possible signatures of a chaotic behavior or a self-organized criticality state triggered in rivermeandering dynamics by the repeated occurrence of cutoffs, some robust nonlinear methodologies have been applied to both the spatial series of local curvatures and the time series of long term channel sinuosity. The temporal distribution of cutoff inter-arrivals is also investigated. The results are consistent and show that, at least from a modelling point of view, no evidence of

This study uses an enlarged data set to (1) compare measured meander geometry to that predicted by the Langbein and Leopold (1966) theory, (2) examine the frequency distribution of the ratio radius of curvature/channel width, and (3) derive 40 empirical equations (31 of which are original) involving meander and channel size features. The data set, part of which comes from publications by other authors, consists of 194 sites from a large variety of physiographic environments in various countries. The Langbein-Leopold sine-generated-curve theory for predicting radius of curvature agrees very well with the field data (78 sites). The ratio radius of curvature/channel width has a modal value in the range of 2 to 3, in accordance with earlier work; about one third of the 79 values is less than 2.0. The 40 empirical relations, most of which include only two variables, involve channel cross-section dimensions (bankfull area, width, and mean depth) and meander features (wavelength, bend length, radius of curvature, and belt width). These relations have very high correlation coefficients, most being in the range of 0.95-0.99. Although channel width traditionally has served as a scale indicator, bankfull cross-sectional area and mean depth also can be used for this purpose. ?? 1986.

We propose a bio-morphodynamic model at bend cross-sectional scale for the lateral migration of rivermeander bends, where the two banks can migrate separately as a result of the mutual interaction between river flow, sediments and riparian vegetation, particularly at the interface between the permanently wet channel and the advancing floodplain. The model combines a non-linear analytical model for the morphodynamic evolution of the channel bed, a quasi-1D model to account for flow unsteadiness, and an ecological model describing riparian vegetation dynamics. Simplified closures are included to estimate the feedbacks among vegetation, hydrodynamics and sediment transport, which affect the morphology of the river-floodplain system. Model tests reveal the fundamental role of riparian plants in generating bio-morphological patterns at the advancing floodplain margin. Importantly, they provide insight into the biophysical controls of the 'bar push' mechanism and into its role in the lateral migration of meander bends and in the temporal variations of the active channel width.

Meandering patterns are universal features of tidal landscapes, which exert a great influence on the dynamics of tidal channel networks and on the stratigraphy of intertidal platforms. Despite their importance in landscape evolution and their ubiquity, tidal meanders have received less attention when compared to their fluvial counterparts. Quite a few studies, in fact, have focused on the morphodynamic evolution of tidal meanders, together with their planimetric shape and morphometric characteristics. To improve current understanding of tidal meandermigration, a key step to address tidal meander evolution, we have analyzed a sequence of aerial photographs (from 1938 to present day) for about 400 meander bends, over 40 salt-marsh channels in the Northern part of the Venice Lagoon (Italy). Tidal meanders display similarities with fluvial meanders, although important differences emerge. Meanders cutting through the San Felice marsh follow the relationship between cartesian length and channel width, typical of meanders developed within different landscapes. However, meandermigration rates, which were determined on the basis of three different methods, proved to be smaller than those characterizing fluvial meanders. Our analysis suggests mean migration rates of about 0.10 m/year, which is consistent with migration rates determined by previous studies on tidal meanders. The relationship between erosion (migration) rate and bend radius (R), both made dimensionless with channel width (W), displays a bell-shaped envelope pattern, in analogy with fluvial meanders although with smaller migration rates. In the tidal case, in fact, the largest migration rate is about 0.10 channel widths per year, which is smaller than the largest migration rate (0.20 channel widths per year) characterizing fluvial meanders that we found in the literature. Interestingly, in the case of tidal meanders the peak of the bell-shaped curve corresponds to a R/W ratio between 4 and 5, whereas the same

This study examines the meandering phenomenon as it occurs in media throughout terrestrial, glacial, atmospheric, and aquatic environments. Analysis of the minimum energy principle, along with theories of Coriolis forces (and random walks to explain the meandering phenomenon) found that these theories apply at different temporal and spatial scales. Coriolis forces might induce topological changes resulting in meandering planforms. The minimum energy principle might explain how these forces combine to limit the sinuosity to depth and width ratios that are common throughout various media. The study then compares the first order analytical solutions for flow field by Ikeda, et al. (1981) and Johannesson and Parker (1989b). Ikeda's et al. linear bank erosion model was implemented to predict the rate of bank erosion in which the bank erosion coefficient is treated as a stochastic variable that varies with physical properties of the bank (e.g., cohesiveness, stratigraphy, or vegetation density). The developed model was used to predict the evolution of meandering planforms. Then, the modeling results were analyzed and compared to the observed data. Since the migration of a meandering channel consists of downstream translation, lateral expansion, and downstream or upstream rotations several measures are formulated in order to determine which of the resulting planforms is closest to the experimental measured one. Results from the deterministic model highly depend on the calibrated erosion coefficient. Since field measurements are always limited, the stochastic model yielded more realistic predictions of meandering planform evolutions. Due to the random nature of bank erosion coefficient, the meandering planform evolution is a stochastic process that can only be accurately predicted by a stochastic model.

Sediments in the large meanderingrivers of the Amazon basin are known to be supplied by sources providing highly different magnitudes of sediment input and storage, ranging from the sediment-rich Andean region to the sediment-poor Central Trough. Recent observations have highlighted how such differences in sediment supply have an important, net effect on the rates of planform activity of meanderingrivers in the basin, in terms of meandermigration and frequency of cutoffs. In this work we quantify and discuss the effect of sediment supply on the organization of macroscale sediment bedforms on several large meanderingrivers in the Amazon basin, and we link our findings with those regarding the rates of planform activity. Our analysis is conducted through the newly developed software PyRIS, which enables us to perform extensive multitemporal analysis of river morphodynamics from multispectral remotely sensed Landsat imagery in a fully automated fashion. We show that large rivers with low sediment supply tend to develop alternate bars that consistently migrate through long reaches, characterized at the same time by limited planform development. On the contrary, high sediment supply is associated with the development of point bars that are well-attached to the evolving meander bends and that follow temporal oscillations around the bend apexes, which in turn show rapid evlution towards complex meander shapes. Finally, rivers with intermediate rates of sediment supply develop rather steady point bars associated with slowly migrating, regular meanders. We finally discuss the results of the image analysis in the light of the properties of river planform metrics (like channel curvature and width) for the examined classes of river reaches with different sediment supply rates.

Meandering channels are ubiquitous features of tidal landscapes. However, despite their fundamental role on the eco-morphodynamic evolution of these landscapes, tidal meanders have received less attention when compared to their fluvial counterparts. Improving current understanding of tidal meandermigration, a largely-examined topic in fluvial landscapes, is a key step to highlight analogies and differences between tidal and fluvial cases. The migration of about 400 meander bends, belonging to 40 salt-marsh channels in the Northern Venice Lagoon (Italy), from 1968 to nowadays, has been investigated by means of both a classical method in fluvial frameworks and new procedure. Similarities with fluvial meanders occur, although important difference also emerge. Meanders cutting through the San Felice marsh follow the relationship between cartesian length and channel width, typical of meanders developed within different settings. However, meandermigration rates proved to be smaller than those characterizing fluvial meanders. Indeed, the analysis of meandermigration suggests a mean migration rate of about 0.10 m/year, consistent with the few data available in the literature. As for the fluvial case, the maximum-potential migration rate (i.e. the envelope curve of the relationship between migration rate and bend radius, both divided by channel width) reaches a maximum for radius-over-width ratio included between 2 and 3, regardless of the considered method. Nevertheless, the new-proposed method allows us to provide a more objective and continuous characterization. By using this new procedure, the channel curvature has finally been Fourier-analyzed, confirming the importance of even harmonics along the curvature spectrum. A correlation between migration rates and dominant harmonics seems to drive the evolution of tidal meanders and might represent a key-feature to distinguish them from their fluvial counterparts.

Meanderingrivers are common on Earth and other planetary surfaces, yet the conditions necessary to maintain meandering channels are unclear. As a consequence, self-maintaining meandering channels with cutoffs have not been reproduced in the laboratory. Such experimental channels are needed to explore mechanisms controlling migration rate, sinuosity, floodplain formation, and planform morphodynamics and to test theories for wavelength and bend propagation. Here we report an experiment in which meandering with near-constant width was maintained during repeated cutoff and regeneration of meander bends. We found that elevated bank strength (provided by alfalfa sprouts) relative to the cohesionless bed material and the blocking of troughs (chutes) in the lee of point bars via suspended sediment deposition were the necessary ingredients to successful meandering. Varying flood discharge was not necessary. Scaling analysis shows that the experimental meandermigration was fast compared to most natural channels. This high migration rate caused nearly all of the bedload sediment to exchange laterally, such that bar growth was primarily dependent on bank sediment supplied from upstream lateral migration. The high migration rate may have contributed to the relatively low sinuosity of 1.19, and this suggests that to obtain much higher sinuosity experiments at this scale may have to be conducted for several years. Although patience is required to evolve them, these experimental channels offer the opportunity to explore several fundamental issues about river morphodynamics. Our results also suggest that sand supply may be an essential control in restoring self-maintaining, actively shifting gravel-bedded meanders.

The migration rate calculated by numerical models of rivermeandering is commonly based on a method that relates migration rate to near-bank excess velocity multiplied by a dimensionless coefficient. Notwithstanding its simplicity, since the early 1980s this method has provided important insight int...

Restoring the meandering planform or spatial variability of historically meandering streams that have been channelized or highly disturbed is one of the most difficult aspects in river restoration. River planform and cross-sectional geometry are the result of complex interactions between flow, boun...

On Earth, meandering streams occur where the banks are resistant to erosion, which enhances narrow and deep channels. Often this is because the stream banks are held firm by vegetation. The ancient, highly sinuous channels with cutoffs found on Mars are enigmatic because vegetation played no role in providing bank cohesion and enhancing fine sediment deposition. Possible causes of the meandering therefore include ice under permafrost conditions and chemical processes. We conducted carbonate flume experiments to investigate possible mechanisms creating meandering channels other than vegetation. The experiment includes a tank that dissolves limestone by adding CO2 gas and produces artificial spring water, peristaltic pumps to drive water through the system, a heater to control the temperature of the spring water, and a flume where carbonate sediment deposits. Spring water containing dissolved calcium and carbonate ions moves through a heater to increase temperature, and then into the flume. The flume surface is open to the air to allow CO2 degassing, decrease temperature, and increase pH, which promotes carbonate precipitation. A preliminary experiment was done and successfully created a meander pattern that evolved over a 3-day experiment. The experiment showed lateral migration of the bend and avulsion of the stream, similar to a natural meander. The lateral variation in flow speed increased the local residence time of water, thus increasing the degassing of CO2 on the two sides of the flow and promoting more precipitation. This enhanced precipitation on the sides provided a mechanism to build levees along the channel and created a stream confined in a narrow path. This mechanism also potentially applies to Earthly single thread and/or meanderingrivers developed and recorded before vegetation appeared on Earth's surface.

Widely used models of meander evolution relate migration rate to vertically averaged near-bank velocity through the use of a coefficient of bank erosion ( E). In applications to floodplain management problems, E is typically determined through calibration to historical planform changes, and thus its physical meaning remains unclear. This study attempts to clarify the extent to which E depends on measurable physical characteristics of the channel boundary materials using data from the Sacramento River, California, USA. Bend-average values of E were calculated from measured long-term migration rates and computed near-bank velocities. In the field, unvegetated bank material resistance to fluvial shear ( k) was measured for four cohesive and noncohesive bank types using a jet-test device. At a small set of bends for which both E and k were obtained, we discovered that variability in k explains much of the variability in E. The form of this relationship suggests that when modeling long-term meandermigration of large rivers, E depends largely on bank material properties. This finding opens up the possibility that E may be estimated directly from field data, enabling prediction of meandermigration rates for systems where historical data are unavailable or controlling conditions have changed. Another implication is that vegetation plays a limited role in affecting long-term meandermigration rates of large rivers like the Sacramento River. These hypotheses require further testing with data sets from other large rivers.

Discusses the hydrodynamic reasons why a riverbed meanders through a plain. Describes how water movement at a bend in a river causes erosion and changes in the riverbed. Provides a mathematical model to explain the periodic shape of meanders of a river in a plain. (MDH)

Channel pattern is used to describe the plan view of a reach of river as seen from an airplane, and includes meandering, braiding, or relatively straight channels.Natural channels characteristically exhibit alternating pools or deep reaches and riffles or shallow reaches, regardless of the type of pattern. The length of the pool or distance between riffles in a straight channel equals the straight line distance between successive points of inflection in the wave pattern of a meanderingriver of the same width. The points of inflection are also shallow points and correspond to riffles in the straight channel. This distance, which is half the wavelength of the meander, varies approximately as a linear function of channel width. In the data we analysed the meander wavelength, or twice the distance between successive riffles, is from 7 to 12 times the channel width. It is concluded that the mechanics which may lead to meandering operate in straight channels.River braiding is characterized by channel division around alluvial islands. The growth of an island begins as the deposition of a central bar which results from sorting and deposition of the coarser fractions of the load which locally cannot be transported. The bar grows downstream and in height by continued deposition on its surface, forcing the water into the flanking channels, which, to carry the flow, deepen and cut laterally into the original banks. Such deepening locally lowers the water surface and the central bar emerges as an island which becomes stabilized by vegetation. Braiding was observed in a small river in a laboratory. Measurements of the adjustments of velocity, depth, width, and slope associated with island development lead to the conclusion that braiding is one of the many patterns which can maintain quasi-equilibrium among discharge, load, and transporting ability. Braiding does not necessarily indicate an excess of total load.Channel cross section and pattern are ultimately controlled by the

The hydrologic and sediment dynamics within and near cutoffs have long been studied, establishing them as effective agents of rapid local geomorphic change. However, the morphodynamic impact of individual cutoffs at the reachwide scale remains unknown, mainly due to insufficient observations of channel adjustments over large areal extents and at high temporal frequency. Here we show via annually resolved, Landsat-derived channel masks of the dynamic meandering Ucayali River in Peru that cutoffs act as perturbations that nonlocally accelerate rivermigration and drive channel widening both upstream and downstream of the cutoff locations. By tracking planform changes of individual meander bends near cutoffs, we find that the downstream distance of cutoff influence scales linearly with the length of the removed reach. The discovery of nonlocal cutoff influence supports the hypothesis of "avalanche"-type behavior in meander cutoff dynamics and presents new challenges in modeling and prediction of rivers' self-adjusting responses to perturbations.

Meandering patterns are universal features of tidal landscapes which exert a great influence on the dynamics of tidal channel networks and on the stratigraphy of intertidal platforms. Despite their importance in landscape evolution and their ubiquity, tidal meanders have received less attention when compared to their fluvial counterparts. Quite a few studies, in fact, have focused on the morphodynamic evolution of tidal meanders, together with their planimetric shape and morphometric characteristics. To improve current understanding of tidal meandermigration and its possible stratigraphic implications, we have analyzed a sequence of aerial photographs (from 1938 to present day) for a 20 m in diameter, abandoned tidal meander in the Venice Lagoon, and have carried out high-resolution sedimentological and chronostratigraphical analyses of channel deposits. Aerial photographs before and after the cutoff event have been used to infer a minimum velocity of migration. Well-cores have also been collected along a transect crossing through the neck zone in order to evaluate changes in grain size, sedimentation rates across the cutoff event, and gain further insight into the velocity of migration of meander bends. Spatial distribution of sedimentary facies (pointbar sand, oxbowlake and saltmarsh mud), grain size analyses, and 210 Pb and 137Cs chronometers highlighted that meander cutoff occurred progressively around 60 years ago with a velocity of migration of about 0.5m/year. The effectiveness of the methods and the high spatial and temporal resolution of the data call for further investigations and analyses of the type proposed herein, furthermore highlighting the potentiality of the study area as modern analogue for ancient tidal deposits.

The mathematical modeling of the long-term evolution of meanderingrivers needs an efficient computation of the flow field. Indeed, the estimate of the near bank velocity, needed to determine the rate at which the outer bank migrates, cannot rely on the full numerical solution of the governing equations when considering the river evolution on geological time scales. The aim of the present contribution is twofold: determining the complete linear response of a meanderingriver to spatially varying channel axis curvature and width, exploiting the ability of the model to describe the morphological tendencies of alluvial rivers; and developing a computationally efficient tool that can be easily incorporated in long-term planform evolution models. The centrifugally induced secondary flow associated with channel axis curvature and longitudinal convection is accounted for by a suitable parametrization based on the structure of the three-dimensional flow field. Cross section width variations are accounted for through a suitable stretching of the transverse coordinate. The relevant momentum and mass conservation equations are then linearized by taking advantage of the fact that alluvial rivers often exhibit mild and long meander bends, as well as evident but relatively small width variations. The input data needed by the analytical solution are the spatial distribution of channel axis curvature and width variations, the mean slope of the investigated river reach, the characteristic grain size of the sediment bed and the flow discharge. The performances of the model, as well as its intrinsic limitations are discussed with reference to the comparison with the bed topography surveyed in a 21 km long reach of the Po River. The results indicate that, in the presence of wide, mildly curved and long bend and weak width variations, the river topography is described with a good accuracy, thus supporting the use of the model to investigate how a river could react to changes in

Characterizing the complexity and heterogeneity of the geometries and deposits in meanderingriver system is an important concern for the reservoir modelling of fluvial environments. Re-examination of the Long Nab member in the Scalby formation of the Ravenscar Group (Yorkshire, UK), integrating digital outcrop data and forward modelling approaches, will lead to a geologically realistic numerical model of the meanderingriver geometry. The methodology is based on extracting geostatistics from modern analogous, meanderingrivers that exemplify both the confined and non-confined meandering point bars deposits and morphodynamics of Long Nab member. The parameters derived from the modern systems (i.e. channel width, amplitude, radius of curvature, sinuosity, wavelength, channel length and migration rate) are used as a statistical control for the forward simulation and resulting object oriented channel models. The statistical data derived from the modern analogues is multi-dimensional in nature, making analysis difficult. We apply data mining techniques such as parallel coordinates to investigate and identify the important relationships within the modern analogue data, which can then be used drive the development of, and as input to the forward model. This work will increase our understanding of meanderingriver morphodynamics, planform architecture and stratigraphic signature of various fluvial deposits and features. We will then use these forward modelling based channel objects to build reservoir models, and compare the behaviour of the forward modelled channels with traditional object modelling in hydrocarbon flow simulations.

Meanderingrivers are common on Earth and other planetary surfaces, yet the conditions necessary to maintain meandering channels are unclear. As a consequence, self-maintaining meandering channels with cutoffs have not been reproduced in the laboratory. Such experimental channels are needed to explore mechanisms controlling migration rate, sinuosity, floodplain formation, and planform morphodynamics and to test theories for wavelength and bend propagation. Here we report an experiment in which meandering with near-constant width was maintained during repeated cutoff and regeneration of meander bends. We found that elevated bank strength (provided by alfalfa sprouts) relative to the cohesionless bed material and the blocking of troughs (chutes) in the lee of point bars via suspended sediment deposition were the necessary ingredients to successful meandering. Varying flood discharge was not necessary. Scaling analysis shows that the experimental meandermigration was fast compared to most natural channels. This high migration rate caused nearly all of the bedload sediment to exchange laterally, such that bar growth was primarily dependent on bank sediment supplied from upstream lateral migration. The high migration rate may have contributed to the relatively low sinuosity of 1.19, and this suggests that to obtain much higher sinuosity experiments at this scale may have to be conducted for several years. Although patience is required to evolve them, these experimental channels offer the opportunity to explore several fundamental issues about river morphodynamics. Our results also suggest that sand supply may be an essential control in restoring self-maintaining, actively shifting gravel-bedded meanders. PMID:19805077

This anaglyph from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, shows that Eberswalde Delta contains rivermeanders, which indicate that flowing water was present for an extended period of time. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

Over a period of several decades, gullies have been observed in various stages of forming, growing and completing the cutoff of meander necks in Powder River. During one episode of overbank flow, water flowing over the down-stream bank of the neck forms a headctu. The headcut migrates up-valley, forming a gully in its wake, until it has traversed the entire neck, cutting off the meander. The river then follows the course of the gully, which is subsequently enlarged as the river develops its new channel. The complete process usually requires several episodes of high water: in only one of the five cases described herein was a meander cutoff initiated and completed during a single large flood.

In meanderingrivers, bend cutoffs have long been recognized as an important mechanism of change in the path of the channel. Meander bend cutoffs can develop by the progressive migration of an elongated bend onto itself, which forms a neck cutoff, or by the erosion of a new channel across the neck of the bend, which is known as a chute cutoff. River cutoffs affect channel navigation, and form meander scars and oxbow lakes in river floodplains, which are important habitats for riparian ecosystems. The importance of cutoff processes in meander dynamics is well established, but the effects of cutoffs on overall sediment flux are poorly characterized. Here we use aerial imagery, global positioning system mapping and measurements of channel bathymetry to estimate the amount of sediment released by two chute cutoffs on the Wabash River in the Midwestern USA. We find that each event triggered the rapid delivery of sediment into the river, at rates that are one to five orders of magnitude larger than those produced by lateral migration of individual bends. We find that much of this material was deposited immediately downstream, at the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio rivers, which led to significant changes in channel morphology. This sedimentation ultimately impeded barge traffic and necessitated extensive dredging.

Planform development of evolving meander bends is a beautiful and complex dynamic phenomenon, controlled by the interplay among hydrodynamics, sediments and floodplain characteristics. In the past decades, morphodynamic models of rivermeandering have provided a thorough understanding of the unit physical processes interacting at the reach scale during meander planform evolution. On the other hand, recent years have seen advances in satellite geosciences able to provide data with increasing resolution and earth coverage, which are becoming an important tool for studying and managing river systems. Analysis of the planform development of meanderingrivers through Landsat satellite imagery have been provided in very recent works. Methodologies for the objective and automatic extraction of key river development metrics from multi-temporal satellite images have been proposed though often limited to the extraction of channel centerlines, and not always able to yield quantitative data on channel width, migration rates and bed morphology. Overcoming such gap would make a major step forward to integrate morphodynamic theories, models and real-world data for an increased understanding of meanderingriver dynamics. In order to fulfill such gaps, a novel automatic procedure for extracting and analyzing the topography and planform dynamics of meanderingrivers through time from satellite images is implemented. A robust algorithm able to compute channel centerline in complex contexts such as the presence of channel bifurcations and anabranching structures is used. As a case study, the procedure is applied to the Landsat database for a reach of the well-known case of Rio Beni, a large, suspended load dominated, tropical meanderingriver flowing through the Bolivian Amazon Basin. The reach-averaged evolution of single bends along Rio Beni over a 30 years period is analyzed, in terms of bend amplification rates computed according to the local centerline migration rate. A

Whereas meander wavelengths of alluvial rivers characteristically scale with bankfull discharge, bedrock meander wavelengths are typically 5-10 times greater than the scaling relationship for alluvial rivers would suggest, a fact that has led some to conclude that bedrock meanders are "underfit." Others, however, have reasoned that larger dominant discharges should be expected for bedrock meanders to erode bank toes and mobilize sediment in bank-shielding scree piles, which often accompany steep, even vertical, outside banks capable of supplying coarse debris via landslide, debris flow, and rockfall. We attempt to test this hypothesis by finding dominant discharges for the Buffalo National River, Arkansas, by several methods. First, assuming that, as with alluvial meanders, bedrock meander wavelengths are 7-15 times hydraulic width at dominant discharge, we use cross-sections extracted from LiDAR-derived DEMs to find discharges corresponding to objectively-determined meander wavelengths. Second, assuming that dominant discharge must mobilize scree mantling outer-bank toe slopes, we use measured grain size distributions and cross sections to determine this discharge. For each of these calculated discharges, we use flow-duration curves to find corresponding recurrence intervals. Third, assuming that mean residence times of scree are similar to dominant discharge recurrence intervals, we use measured scree volumes and flux rates inferred from lateral migration rates to find those residence times. Preliminary results for the site with the longest gauge record yield a mean recurrence interval of 26 yrs corresponding to a meander wavelength-to-width scaling ratio of 11 (9-139 yrs for scaling ratios of 7-15). Recurrence intervals found by the other methods await field and cosmogenic isotope concentration measurements.

The termination of meander bends is an inherent part of the evolution of meanderingrivers. Cutoffs are produced by one of two mechanisms: neck cutoffs occur when two adjacent meanders converge, while chute cutoffs are generated by flood-driven floodplain incision, resulting in a shorter, steeper channel path. Here we use an annually-resolved record of Landsat imagery, coupled with daily discharge data to assess the role of high-magnitude discharges (Q ≥ QBF) on cutoff formation along the Rio Beni, Bolivia. Our results suggest that despite numerous above-bankfull events, the dominant cutoff mechanism operating on the Beni is neck cutoff. Evaluating the formation of these cutoffs reveals that migration rates accelerate during years of high discharge, and eventually cause the migrating bends to breach. The density of floodplain vegetation and the medium into which the channel migrated was also responsible for the patterns of cutoff documented along this river. The presence of existing floodplain channels permitted the river to divert its flow along shorter courses thereby facilitating cutoff, and limiting sinuosity growth. Understanding the long-term evolution of meandering channels is important since their morphodynamics are responsible for the creation of highly biodiverse riparian habitats, as well as the store and release of alluvial material. Moreover, the interactions between discharge and the channel-floodplain system are integral for the functioning and long-term evolution of these landscapes, particularly in the face of global climate change.

The paleo-meanders in the Aeolis Dorsa (AD) region show that meandering channels can develop in the absence of vegetation. Three possible mechanisms other than vegetation could contribute to the bank cohesion required to promote meandering: permafrost, abundant mud, and chemical cementation. Banks at the meandering Quinn River show little vegetation cover. Almost all sediment samples collected from the Quinn River deposits contain at least 41% mud (silt/clay), which is much higher than for most meandering streams. Ion chromatography (IC) analysis and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed presence of salts in river waters and sediments which may induce fine sediment to flocculate and be deposited. We find that bank cohesion promoting meandering can be provided by silt/clay, the deposition of which may be induced by dissolved salts. The sinuous Usuktuk River in the continuous permafrost region near Barrow, Alaska exhibited no exposed permafrost on stream banks. Instead vegetation seemed to be the dominant control of bank erosion. We have not found evidence for ice control of bank cohesion in this or other terrestrial rivers of similar size and in meandering pattern to the Martian AD meanders. We conclude that bank cohesion in the AD meanders was probably provided by deposition of fine suspended sediment that was flocculated by dissolved salts.

Analytical models of river evolution predict meander narrowing and elongation which creates sinuosity-driven hyporheic exchange across the meander neck, by decreasing flow distance and increasing head loss. We used a laboratory river table and close range photogrammetry to map and analyze sinuosity as a driver of head gradients and hyporheic exchange during cutoff. The river valley had relatively high slopes (1.8%) and moderately cohesive sediment (10% talc, 90% sand) to facilitate cutoff, and ratios of horizontal to vertical scaling were distorted to achieve dynamic similitude (Re = 3200). Incipient to cutoff, the head gradient across the neck increased due to a narrowing neck, upstream aggradation, and downstream degradation. Longitudinal and transverse river surface slopes around the meander bend increased as the meander approached cutoff. The steep head gradient across the moderately cohesive meander neck generated seepage erosion and scour that formed a low-sinuosity avulsion. Sediment-rich flow in the avulsed channel aggraded the downstream bed and separated the active channel and oxbow lake. The limitation in geometric and dynamic similitude in the river table limits extrapolation to natural rivers, yet river evolution may involve aggradation and degradation induced channel head loss and turnover hyporheic exchange as well as seepage-induced meander neck erosion. Our submillimeter maps of meander morphology and water stage provide data to parameterize river evolution and hyporheic exchange models, and may inform analysis and mapping of field sites.

Meanderingrivers are defined by their nature to migrate, remobilising floodplain sediment and constructing new surfaces for riparian vegetation to colonise. The presence of riparian vegetation has long been known to limit the ability of rivers to erode riverbanks, but it has remained unclear the principal means by which vegetation provides this function. As a result, most models that predict meandering behaviour do not fully incorporate vegetation, thereby limiting their utility where forest is rapidly replaced. The problem is particularly acute along the Kinabatangan River of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, where oil palm plantations are replacing one of the oldest riparian rainforests on the planet. The area of Sabah has seen rapid and extensive land use change in the last 40 years, as virgin rainforest has been systematically cleared for logging, and to make way for oil palm plantations. In the 18 years from 1990 to 2008, Sabah lost half of its intact rainforest, which equates to more than 1.85 million hectares. Using Landsat imagery dating back to 1973, we report here the impacts of this rapid land-use change on rates of meandermigration on a 280-km reach of the Kinabatangan River. The river planform has been remarkably stable throughout the time period of study, but individual meanders show a rapid response to large discharge events, migrating over an order of magnitude faster than nearby reaches. Rapidly migratingmeanders generally occur along portions of floodplain that have been artificially cleared of riparian vegetation, potentially resulting in significant increases in sediment load and within-channel bar development. A field campaign is planned to investigate the mechanisms by which riparian vegetation effect meandermigration in these tropical regions.

Empirical relations are developed between river-meander features and water-discharge characteristics for 19 reaches along Swedish rivers. In these relations, either average channel width or average radius of curvature of meander arcs can be used to estimate average annual peak discharge and average daily discharge. By accepting certain assumptions, the relations can be applied to other meandering Swedish rivers, present or ancient. The Oster-Dalalven River near Mora is used as an example.-Author

Characterizing the intrinsic nonlinearity in meanderingriver dynamics is important because it dictates river evolution response to perturbations such as bank armoring or channel straightening. Meanderingriver dynamics have been described in terms of chaos or self-organized criticality—characterizations predicated on the presence of nonlinearity—yet recent studies have found only limited evidence for its existence. Standard nonlinearity tests are performed by generating a number of linearized surrogate series from a signal of interest. Inherent nonlinearities in the original signal are destroyed in the surrogates via phase randomization in the Fourier domain. Nonlinearity is inferred if a significant difference exists between the original and the surrogates in an appropriately determined phase space. These tests detect the presence or absence of nonlinearity but cannot identify which scales and locations are contributing most to the signal's nonlinearity. A new surrogate generation method called Gradual Wavelet Reconstruction (GWR) has two key advantages over the standard methodology. First, GWR quantifies the degree of nonlinearity rather than simply detecting its presence or absence, providing a basis for comparisons between river planforms and models of meandermigration. Second, because the GWR methodology relies on localized transformations, it can determine the scales and locations primarily contributing to the observed complexity. As a result of those advantages too, GWR has been shown to detect the presence of nonlinearity in signals where standard tests have failed. We apply GWR methodology to time series of channel sinuosity predicted by two established models of long-time meandermigration: a HIPS-type model and that of Zolezzi and Seminara (2001). Although the former model has been shown to capture first-order meander dynamics, it fails to fully couple sediment and flow dynamics; nor does it account for the resonance phenomenon. Using GWR, we show

Freely meanderingrivers typically exhibit complex, continuously evolving patterns of planform geometry involving elongation of the channel path through lateral migration and shorting of this path through bend cutoffs. Despite the importance of cutoffs in shaping the planform geometry of meanderingrivers, the fluvial processes operative immediately after initiation of a cutoff are poorly understood. Two recent chute cutoff events on a single bend on the Wabash River, IL-IN, have provided an unprecedented opportunity to document the morphologic evolution and flow structure of chute cutoffs in a large, unregulated, meanderingriver. Here, we present results of ADCP measurements of three-dimensional flow velocity and bed topography at these cutoffs and describe a conceptual model for the morphodynamics of chute cutoffs prior to oxbow lake formation. Our results indicate that the flow structure at upstream and downstream ends of cutoff channels, prior to plugging of the entrance and exit of the abandoned bend with sediment, is analogous to flow through diffluence - confluence units. The interaction of this flow structure with an erodible bed and banks can cause rapid widening of the upstream end of the cutoff channel and bar development i) in the main channel where velocities are reduced, and ii) in the separation zone of the cutoff channel. Over time, these patterns of deposition and erosion will lead formation of an oxbow lake and complete capture of the flow by the cutoff channel.

This image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft contains interesting examples of crosscutting, sinuous and straight ridges. The ridge in the lower left of the image (orange) has gradual bends and well-defined positive relief, while the ridge in the upper right (blue) exhibits a degree of high sinuosity. Both ridges may be ancient river deposits. In the southern part of the image, there are also possible cut bank and point bar deposition scars (green), but these do not possess visible positive relief. Although lacking relief, the sinuosity of these scars implies an ancient, mature, and low-gradient meanderingriver. The upper right ridge exhibits a sinuous geometry with positive relief reminiscent of a mature meanderingriver. Cementation of by underground fluids may have given the river deposits a higher resistance to erosion compared to the surrounding flood plain. Subsequent weathering removed the deposits in the flood plain, leaving behind the river channel positive relief. Offsets of the lower left ridge along possible fault scarps (red) suggest that the area was cut by faults either during or after deposition of the river deposits. There also appears to be a less pronounced fault at the terminus of the upper right ridge. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20160

Meandering bedrock channels in the Oregon Coast Range (OCR), USA, have lateral migration rates far in excess of vertical incision rates. Consequently, the sweeping of trunk streams through this landscape can locally exert a much stronger influence on tributary channel long profiles than far-field tectonic forcing of base-level. Here, we use LiDAR-data to explore the influence of lateral channel mobility on the evolution of tributaries to the Smith River, in the OCR. We focus on two processes that dramatically and instantaneously change tributary long profiles: 1) Capture of tributaries by growing meander bends, and 2) Meander bend neck cutoffs on the main-stem that leave tributaries disconnected from base-level lowering. We focus on these two types of events because they provide clear examples of autogenic drivers of landscape disequilibrium at the sub-watershed scale in a landscape that is commonly argued to reflect steady tectonic forcing of base-level. We show that tributary streams are significantly more likely to flow into the leading edge of meander bends, testifying to the repeated capture of tributaries by growing bends. Examples of eminent captures by migrating bends, and examples with large knick points along recently captured tributaries suggest that the autogenic capture of tributaries by growing bends is a fundamental cause of transience in tributary channels in this landscape. To demonstrate the influence of the process of meander bend neck cutoff on tributary long profile evolution, we compare the long profiles of 34 tributaries that were hung above the main-stem of the Smith River following neck cutoff events. These stagnated tributary channels typically exhibit large convexities that record ongoing lowering of the trunk stream. Measured heights of these hanging tributaries implies that the timescale of adjustment for tributaries following cutoff events is ~ 105-106 years. The timescale of adjustment of tributary channels following meander cutoff

Despite the ubiquity of meandering streams, there have been few field-based studies of the temporal evolution of meander planforms, including modeling of channel migration and spatial patterns of floodplain. The Quinn River, located in the east branch of the Black Rock Desert, Nevada is a sinuous channel that flows through lacustrine sediments on the floor of paleolake Lahontan where vegetation cover is sparse. It is still active and aerial photographs taken over the past 50 years show that significant modifications including meander cutoffs have occurred in the past 40 years. This provides good basis for testing the ability of flow and bank erosion models (e.g., Johannesson and Parker [1989]) to predict meander evolution pattern. Meander model developed by Howard [1992, 1996], which has its base on the Johannesson and Parker [1989] linearized model of flow through bends, was used to simulate forward evolution of the Quinn River starting from the 1972 centerline. The Quinn River lacks bars and has a nearly canal-like cross-section with a flat bed, thus it is an ideal channel to test predictions of bend evolution. The model was calibrated by using various data such as meander wavelength, channel cross-sectional shape, measurements of flow resistance based upon the field work, and timing of meander cutoffs to find the model results that best match the 2010 centerline. We also formulated and calibrated the flood plain sediment deposition model using high resolution topography data from LiDAR. Our results show that the model well predicts the meander evolution pattern over historical time period. Also the short term simulations show a good correlation between the predicted inner and outer bend flow velocity ratio and the ratio of inner and outer channel bank slope ratio.

Native plant and wildlife communities along Northern California's middle Sacramento River (Red Bluff to Colusa) originally adapted to a changing pattern of erosion and deposition across a broad meander belt. The erosion-deposition process was in balance, with the river alternately building and eroding terraces. Human-induced changes to the Sacramento River,...

The 346 km of the middle Ebro River between Logroño and La Zaida is a free meandering channel in a wide floodplain. This reach contains a discontinuous riparian corridor, including valuable riparian forests and oxbow lakes. The Ebro has witnessed substantial changes in channel morphology, gravel bars, riparian vegetation and floodplain uses over the last 80 years. The growth in sinuosity, migrations and meander cut-offs have been frequent before 1981. Afterwards, bank protections and dykes have stabilized the channel. There has been a progressive and significant decrease of both the area covered by water and the gravel bars without plant colonization. As a result the width of the riparian corridor has been dramatically reduced for human use. The deceleration and near elimination of the free meander dynamics of the Ebro channel represent an important loss of natural heritage. Dams, land-use changes throughout the basin, and construction of flood defences that restrict the main channel have changed the river system behaviour, which urgently needs a management plan combining both improvement and risk reduction. The solution proposed is the creation of a "Fluvial Territory".

Rates of meandermigration are dependent upon dynamic interactions between planform geometry, three-dimensional flow structure, sediment transport, and the erodibility and geotechnical properties of the channel banks and floodplains. Riparian vegetation can greatly reduce the rate of migration through root-reinforcement and increased flow resistance near the bank. In particular, forested riverbanks can also provide large woody debris (LWD) to the channel, and if located near the outer bank, can act to amour the bank by disrupting three-dimensional flow patterns and redirecting flow away from the bank-toe, the locus of erosion in meanderingrivers. In this paper, three-dimensional flow patterns and migration rates are compared for two meander bends, one forested and one non-forested, on the Wabash River, near Grayville, Illinois. Flow data were obtained using acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) for two large flow events in May and June 2011. LWD was mapped using a terrestrial LiDAR survey, and residence times for the LWD were estimated by comparing the survey data to time-series aerial photography. Rates of migration and planform evolution were determined through time-series analysis of aerial photography from 1938-2011. Results from this study show that near-bank LWD can have a significant influence on flow patterns through a meander bend and can disrupt helical flow near the outer bank, thereby reducing the effect of the high velocity core on the toe of the bank. Additionally, these effects influence migration rates and the planform evolution of meanderingrivers.

Observation of the planimetric evolution of a meanderingriver confirms the narrowing of the point bar throat across time, but the science community is lacking in observations of concurrent changes of intra-meander hyporheic flux. Theory predicts the intra-meander hyporheic flux should intensify as the throat narrows. This research presents a laboratory river table experiment to document spatial and temporal intensification of intra-meander hyporheic flux rates in two meander bends at two evolution ages, each 1:500 scaled from river evolution model planimetry. The younger meander bend, M1, had a sinuosity of 2.3, a river neck width of 0.39m, and 0.6% river slope, and the older meander bend, M3, had a sinuosity of 5.2, a river neck width of 0.12m, and 0.5% river slope. Flux was analyzed for spatial patterns, moving from the point bar apex to neck for a single meander age, and for temporal patterns, moving between M1 and M3 for the same point bar zone. Two methods to estimate flux were dye tracking and head loss monitoring. Between the meander centroid and neck we documented a 60% spatial intensification for M1 and a 90% spatial intensification for M3. Between M1 and M3 we documented a 135% temporal intensification at the neck and a 100% intensification at the centroid. Our empirical spatial and temporal intensification rates involving the M1 and the M3 scenario were 1 to 3 times lower than theoretical rates based on a river evolution model with equivalent M1 and M3 planimetry. Our experimental data supports the trend in theoretical predictions but provides important insights on the control of valley groundwater intra-meander rates of intensification. This study also demonstrated how the MODFLOW groundwater model can simulate intra-meander hyporheic flux intensification to assist river managers identify and protect hyporheic hot spots and moments.

In the present contribution we focus our attention on the long-term behavior of meanderingrivers, a very common pattern in nature. This class of dynamical systems is driven by the coexistence of various intrinsically nonlinear mechanisms which determine the possible occurrence of two different morphodynamic regimes: the subresonant and the superresonant regimes. Investigating the full range of morphodynamic conditions, we objectively compare the morphologic characteristics exhibited by synthetically generated and observed planimetric patterns. The analysis is carried out examining, through principal component analysis, a suitable set of morphological variables. We show that even in the presence of the strong filtering action exerted by cutoff processes, a closer, although not yet complete, similarity with natural meandering planforms can be achieved only by adopting a flow field model which accounts for the full range of morphodynamic regimes. We also introduce a new morphodynamic length scale, ?m, associated with spatially oscillating disturbances. Once normalized with this length scale, the relevant morphologic features of the simulated long-term patterns (e.g., the probability density function of local curvature and the geometric characteristics of oxbow lakes) tend to collapse on two distinct behaviors, depending on the dominant morphologic regime.

We investigated how channel morphology, flow complexity, and habitat characteristics in a meandering gravel bed river evolved over time from a simple, reconfigured initial condition. Using a time series of topographic data, we measured rates of channel migration and morphologic change, documented patterns of sediment storage, and estimated rates of sediment supply. We constructed, calibrated, and validated hydrodynamic models to quantify how the evolving morphology influenced hydraulic conditions, flow complexity, and habitat suitability for Chinook salmon spawning and rearing. For a series of meander bends with constant curvature, similar bank materials, and an identical flow history, sediment supply and bar storage directly influenced channel migration rates. Habitat modeling indicated that the availability of Chinook salmon spawning habitat increased over time, whereas the majority of the reach continues to provide only low- to medium-quality rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids, primarily because of a lack of low-velocity refuge zones. However, other metrics of flow complexity indicate that areas of favorable flow conditions gradually expanded as point bars developed along the inner bank of each bend. These results indicate that although sediment supply can stimulate channel change and diversify river morphology, which acts to promote flow complexity and provide spawning habitat, these sediment-driven morphological changes might not create bioenergetically favorable habitat for juvenile salmonids.

For at least two centuries, the lateral mobility of the meandering reaches of the Cher River (France) has been very low. This article aims to identify the main causes of this behavior. Two not-mutually exclusive explanatory hypotheses are proposed. Under the first hypothesis, the natural mechanisms of loop migration would have been inhibited or blocked by the presence of bank protections. Under the second hypothesis, a decrease in the frequency and/or intensity of morphogenic hydrological events since the nineteenth century would have reduced the frequency of bedload mobilization and/or reduced the capacity of the river to erode its banks. To test these hypotheses, the diachronic evolution of the planform was reconstituted at different time scales using a GIS and field surveys. Morphological transformations were characterized and quantified (eroded and vegetated areas, length of eroded banks, rates of bank retreat) and the critical discharges of bedload mobilization and of lateral erosion were estimated. Engineering works in the riverbed were identified and, when possible, dated. The results show that meander morphodynamics have been highly constrained and disrupted by engineering works, probably for over a century. However, the meanders still have noticeable potential for bedload mobility and lateral erosion, and hence for self-restoration.

This paper investigates post-dam geomorphic and vegetation changes in the Sauce Grande River, a meandering dryland river impounded by a large water-conservation dam. As the dam impounds a river section with scarce influence of tributaries, sources for fresh water and sediment downstream are limited. Changes were inspected based on (i) analysis of historical photographs/imagery spanning pre- (1961) and post-dam (1981, 2004) channel conditions for two river segments located above and below the dam, and (ii) field survey of present channel conditions for a set of eight reference reaches along the river segments. Whilst the unregulated river exhibited active lateral migration with consequent adjustments of the channel shape and size, the river section below the dam was characterized by (i) marked planform stability (93 to 97%), and by (ii) vegetation encroachment leading to alternating yet localized contraction of the channel width (up to 30%). The present river displays a moribund, stable channel where (i) redistribution of sediment along the river course no longer occurs and (ii) channel forms constitute a remnant of a fluvial environment created before closing the dam, under conditions of higher energy. In addition to providing new information on the complex geomorphic response of dryland rivers to impoundment, this paper represents the very first geomorphic assessment of the regulated Sauce Grande and therefore provides an important platform to underpin further research assessing the geomorphic state of this highly regulated dryland river.

As part of a study to separate and characterize the active and passive components of sturgeon larval dispersal in a large river, we made detailed measurements of the dispersion of a large pulse of Rhodamine dye injected at a single upstream point. The study occurred on the Kootenai River, USA, a 200m-wide meanderingriver with an unusually low gradient, 2x10-5, and an average depth of 5 m at the moderate study flow of 271 m3/s. For the first 14 river kilometers downstream from the injection site, a detailed concentration data set describing the spatial and temporal evolution of the dye pulse was obtained using GPS receivers and high-accuracy fluorometers mounted on several boats. Beyond this initial reach, the dye was predominantly well-mixed in the cross-stream direction except near the leading and trailing edges of the pulse, and only longitudinal dispersion was measured. These measurements were made at a series of 11 fixed locations for an additional 45 river kilometers downstream, at which point peak dye concentrations were near the detection limit. Even for a relatively simple channel, the data indicate that local topography and bank irregularity exert a strong influence on the distribution of dye. While most of the dye pulse was apparently well mixed in the cross-stream and vertical directions, deep pools and lateral separation zones produced complex 3-dimensional structure in the concentration field, especially at the leading edge of the dye pulse. The dispersion data show that travel times in different reaches were more variable than predicted by a simple 1-dimensional model. Comparisons of the field data with results from multidimensional computational models indicate that uncommon channel features play a disproportionately important role in determining the storage and subsequent release of constituents that are passively advected and diffused.

Rivermeander dynamics and mobility are important indicators of environmental change related to climate changes and anthropogenic activities at local and river basin scales. The aim of the present study is to identify morphological changes of the Karoon River in Iran using high accuracy maps and Landsat satellite images by analyses during the time period 1989-2008. In this study, 20 meandering reaches were analyzed over a 128-km-long river reach located in the middle part of the Karoon River, Iran. Morphometric indicators such as: river width (W), meander neck length (L), axis length (A), radius of curvature (R), water flow length (S), and sinuosity of meander (C) were extracted for the identified meanders. The results of a paired t-test showed that river width (W) and meander neck length (L) have significantly changed during the study period (1989-2008), with an increase of + 3.5 m for W and a decrease of 274 m for L. Spearman correlation analysis has shown that meander parameter changes are highly correlated to each other. The parameters that do not have significant correlation together are C with W and L, W and L, and L with S and A. During the period of the study, the flow length and river sinuosity decreased for the whole river reach, by 4.77 km and 0.11, respectively. Analysis of land use/land cover categories (1989 and 2008) using the support vector machine (SVM) and kernel function method served as one of the tools for interpretation of the meander parameter changes. These changes can be attributed not only to LU/LC (riparian vegetation to agriculture area ratio) but also to dam construction in the upstream part of the river that leads to major hydrological regime and sediment transfer alteration. Sediment extraction may also be an important factor.

The planforms of the lithologically controlled South River, VA, and the freely meandering Teklanika River, AK were investigated using two statistical methods as well as fractal and spectral analyses. The lithologic controls along the South River include riverbanks consisting of pre-Holocene terraces and alluvial fans, and highly resistant bedrock that frequently crops out both in the bed and along the banks. A statistical analysis of bends composed of single arcs shows that the average radius of curvature is six times greater and the average bend length is 25 percent smaller for the South River relative to the meanderingriver, indicating that lithologically controlled bends are less curved and shorter than freely-formed meander bends. Fractal analysis reveals that the meanderingriver displays a smaller range in length scales than the South River, which exhibits a wider range in length scales that reflect a wider distribution of bend sizes. The method of Lancaster and Bras, (2002), which identifies bends of different complexity, indicates that the meanderingriver displays bends composed of single arcs, complex arcs and multiple complex arcs. Unlike the freely meandering Teklanika River, the lithologically controlled South River does not display bends composed of multiple complex arcs, though bends composed of single and complex arcs are common. Spectral analysis reveals that the meanderingriver's pattern is composed of a relatively narrow range of dominant wavelengths with the most prominent wavelength being the longest, while the lithologically controlled river displays dominant wavelengths over a relatively wide range and the most prominent wavelength is not the longest. This analysis demonstrates that lithological controls increase the range of bend lengths, increase radii of curvature, simplify bend shapes, and increase the distribution of wavelengths of sinuous rivers.

Field data collection and numerical modeling is being conducted in the lower Mississippi River in the region of a meander bend at Myrtle Grove, LA (river km 96 above Head of Passes) in support of a proposed large water and sediment diversion (1,130-2,830 cms) for coastal wetland restoration. Field studies in October 2008, April and May 2009, at discharges ranging from 11,000-21,000 cms, examined the role of bend dynamics on sediment transport through this reach relative to control sites further downriver and USGS monitoring stations upriver. Suspended loads and grain size character measured by ADCP (velocities and backscatter), isokinetic point sampler (P-63), and optical sensors (LISST, OBS, transmissometer) indicate that during the rising-to-high discharge phase, sand lifting off from the downstream edge of the lateral bar upriver of the bend augments that carried from further upriver, and is entrained in the upper 10-25m of the water column. This excess suspended sand is advected around the bend before concentrations are reduced to background levels over the lateral bar downstream of the bend. Bedload transport rates measured by repeat swath bathymetric mapping of migrating dunes are comparable upstream of the bend, downstream, and in the control sites. However, no bedforms are observed in the bend thalweg (up to 60 m deep) supporting the dominance of suspended sand transport in the bend. Both 1D (HEC-RAS and HEC6-T) and 3D (Flow3D) numerical hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling is underway to simulate this process and the large-scale eddy present in the bend that generates upriver transport along the inside of the meander bend at all observed discharges. Our preliminary results suggest that the outside of meander bends might be an appropriate site for sediment diversions that draw near-surface water from this sediment-rich layer.

Large water storage dams have altered the morphology of many rivers by trapping sediment and decreasing the magnitude and duration of the seasonal peak flows that had been responsible for channel forming processes involving sediment transport. We hypothesized that a full range of flows, characteristic of pre-dam conditions, are critical for developing a dynamic, yet sustainable meandering floodplain river. We explored the role of variable flow as represented by a typical asymmetrically-shaped flood hydrograph in our physical model experiments of a scaled-down, gravel-bedded, meandering floodplain channel. Our model channel had erodible bed and banks and was allowed to evolve within a wide floodplain having a slope of one-half of a percent. Bank strength was provided using alfalfa sprouts and a thin layer of uniformly applied silica on the coarse floodplain sediments. We used a stepped hydrograph with a peak that resulted in overbank flooding, increased lateral migration rates, bar-connection with the floodplain, and stable channel width. The highest rates of bank erosion, bar growth, and lateral migration occurred during the overbank flows. We co-varied the bedload feed rate with the discharge while the sediment flux remained closely balanced over the course of each of the hydrograph runs, which was chiefly due to their shape. This occurred as the relatively longer durations of the final two hydrograph steps, where output rates exceeded input rates, compensated for the net increase of sediment storage within the channel during the rising limb steps. We additionally discovered that the ratio of deposition rates to erosion rates were not a function of discharge, but rather were dependent on the channel position relative to the apex of the migrating bend. Our research marks the first attempts at quantifying a channel's response to a systematic variation of flow in a three-dimensional physical model of a meandering floodplain river. This work applies directly to

In 1997, the most drastic change in the course of the Ucayali River in over 200 years took place with the cutoff of a human-induced, 72 km triple-lobed meander bend near Pucallpa, Peru. The cutoff's anthropogenic origins are attributed to local ribereños, who decades earlier in an effort to reduce canoe travel time carved a meter deep by 2 m wide shortcut channel across the neck of the bend. The river responded dramatically in the following years, undergoing accelerated migration and channel widening both up- and downstream of the cutoff that led to the eventual cutoff of four additional cutoffs (three downstream and one upstream). In this study, we quantify Ucayali's response to this major cutoff event as well as twelve additional cutoffs occurring since 1992 through the analysis of annual, bankfull-resolving, Landsat-derived channel masks. Cutoff-induced accelerated morphodynamics occurred downstream of all 13 cutoffs, with 11/13 cutoffs spurring accelerated migration and 8/13 causing channel widening. We attempt to understand the mechanisms driving the observed nonlocal accelerated morphodynamics by computing the change in length of the river due to cutoff, which is approximately proportional to the slope perturbation, and the volumes of sediment released to the downstream reaches through the excavation of chute channels. By tracking planform changes of individual meander bends near cutoffs, we find that the downstream distance of cutoff influence scales linearly with the length of the removed reach. Our findings highlight the understated role of cutoff perturbations as drivers of nonlocal morphologic change and provide insight toward improved predictions of channel responses.

In most landscapes, vertical incision of bedrock stream networks transmits base-level signals into the landscape interior, and is thus the primary control on landscape evolution. Some bedrock channels, however, also have the capacity to move laterally within a landscape via active bedrock meandering. This is common in diverse lithologies including many sedimentary rocks (e.g. California and Oregon Coast Ranges, Colorado Plateau) and basalt (e.g. Columbia River Flood Basalt, Hawaiian Islands). If active meandering of the main stem channel occurs, rates of base-level lowering at the mouth of tributary watersheds will fluctuate over time, even if the base-level lowering rate at the mouth of the main stem channel is constant over time. This is because lateral migration of the main stem channel causes elongation or truncation of the lower reaches of tributaries, which in turn changes slopes and thus tributary incision rates. In addition, as meander bends along the main stem channel grow, they can capture tributaries from other main stem reaches, causing sudden drainage network reorganization and impulsive base-level lowering. Thus a landscape with steady tectonic and climatic forcing may nevertheless experience significant unsteadiness because of the process of meandering itself. Here we test our conceptual model that active meandering of a main stem channel exerts a fundamental control on the relative base-level lowering of tributary watersheds throughout the landscape. To this end, we analyze high resolution LiDAR elevation data from the Smith River, in the Oregon Coast Range, argued to be a classic example of a 'steady state' landscape. We find that tributary junctions are concentrated on the outside of active meander bends, consistent with the hypothesis that actively growing meander bends 'collect' tributaries as they propagate into the landscape. In addition, we find that longitudinal profiles of these tributaries are not consistent with a 'steady state' condition

River channel and floodplain complexity is generated by the lateral migration of meanderingriver channels across the floodplain surface. The main driver of meandermigration is the flow field which erodes the outer bank of river bends, scours pools, creates topographic variability on the floodplain and interacts with riparian vegetation. Flows between channels and floodplains are generally thought to be highly three-dimensional due to the presence of secondary circulation cells and helical flow patterns observed in laboratory experiments, yet few field datasets exist to test or validate existing conceptual models. Flow over and through floodplain vegetation has also been difficult to characterize at the field scale. We took advantage of a remarkably long and stable 5-year flood discharge to measure flow fields across the floodplain and in curved reaches of the gravel-bed Merced River In California to document the hydraulic interactions between the channel and floodplain. We then developed, calibrated and validated a quasi-3D hydrodynamic model of the flows in order to expand the interpretation of the results. Due to the spatial variability in both topography and flow resistance, the modeling required detailed mapping of the channel-floodplain surface and vegetation with a terrestrial LiDAR scanner and RTK GPS units. The results highlight several general aspects of the channel-floodplain flow during an overbank flow event: (1) the flow field in the channel was largely two-dimensional with only weak helical flow patterns; (2) the highest channel velocities and boundary shear stresses occurred at the local maxima in bend curvature where lateral migration has been documented via repeat topographic surveys; (3) flow velocities rapidly decelerated as water was decanted from the channel onto the floodplain where the velocity magnitude was roughly 20-30% of the average channel velocity; (4) dense vegetation along the channel margins enhanced channel velocities but reduced

Meander cutoff and oxbow lake formation are essential components of alluvial architecture and riverine habitat of meanderingriver floodplains. Yet, despite their ubiquitous presence within active floodplains, the detailed processes involved in the initiation of cutoffs and oxbow lakes remain incompletely understood, primarily due to the intermittent nature of such events. Furthermore, conceptual models of meander cutoff and oxbow lake formation have been primarily developed for chute cutoffs and relatively simple planform configurations. Less attention has been given to neck cutoff dynamics occurring on highly sinuous meanderingrivers with complex planform morphology. During the formation of a neck cutoff on a compound elongate loop, the upstream and downstream limbs can become oriented roughly subparallel with flow in opposite directions separated by a narrow meander neck. Immediately following cutoff of this thin neck, flow from the upstream limb is sharply redirected into the downstream limb over a short distance. These conditions of tight bend flow should become more pronounced as the ratio of radius of curvature to channel width become smaller, leading to complex patterns of three-dimensional velocities that have implications for the evolution of the cutoff channel and the transformation of the abandoned bend into an oxbow lake. This paper investigates the process dynamics of neck cutoff and oxbow lake formation using detailed field measurements of three-dimensional flow velocities, channel bed topography and geotechnical analysis of the banks and floodplains from three neck cutoffs along the White River, Arkansas (USA), each representing a different stage in the morphologic evolution from cutoff to oxbow lake. Results from this study suggests that the planform geometry of neck cutoff on an elongate meander loop can influence the spatial pattern of sediment deposition within the abandoned loop leading to increased hydrologic connectivity to the main channel

The Wood River in Oregon’s Upper Klamath Basin is a meandering channel draining the southeastern slopes of Crater Lake National Park. Its valley floor is heavily grazed and highly altered by a series of irrigation channels that have substantially affected the river’s spring-fed flow regime and morphology. Despite efforts to restore the river’s hydrology, very little information is available about the river’s geomorphology. Using high-resolution LIDAR data from 2004 and georectified aerial photos from 1940-2009, we analyzed meander changes along the Wood River in the geomorphic context of its valley floor and meander belt. Aerial photos were scanned to produce digital images with sub-meter pixels, then georectified with a second-order polynomial transformation. Nine or fewer ground-control points were used for each photo to achieve an overall root-mean-square error value of 0.6 - 0.7 m. The scarcity of buildings and changes in the road and fence networks over the study period required the partial use of “natural pattern matching” during photo rectification. Semi-permanent patterns of fan erosion on the upper valley floor and hydrogeomorphic wetland patterns in lower valley provided the primary bases for natural pattern matching, further aided by the use of transparency during photo overlaying. Six prototypes of meander change were identified: extension, compression, translation, rotation, compound heading, and cutoff. Of these types, extension of meanders was the most frequently occurring. However, the effects of extension were counteracted by numerous meander cutoffs, which nominally affected sinuosity, but actually shortened the channel by about 1 km, or about 3%. Cutoffs were most frequent in the upper reaches of the river, where valley slope is higher, the meander belt is wider, and accommodation space was adequate to promote relatively high initial sinuosity. In these reaches, some cutoffs appear to have initiated downstream transfers of bedload

Rivermeander patterns are controlled by numerous factors, including variations in water discharge, sediment input, and base level. However, the effect of sea level rise and fall on meanderingrivers has not been thoroughly quantified. This study examines geomorphic changes to meanderingrivers as a result of sea level rise and fall. Twenty experimental runs using coarse-grained walnut shell sediment (D50= 500 microns) in a flume tank (2.4m x 0.6m x 0.1m) tested the optimal initial conditions for creating meanderingrivers in a laboratory setting as well as variations in base level rise and fall rates. Geomorphic changes were recorded by camera images every 20 seconds for a duration of 4 hours per experiment. Seventeen experiments tested the effects of changes in initial base levels, water discharge between 200 and 400 mL/min, and sediment to water input ratios between 1:1000 and 1:250 while measuring sinuosity, channel geometry, and the timescale of the channel to reach a stable form. Sinuosity and channel activity increased with increasing water discharge, initial base level, and the sediment to water ratio to a point after which the activity decreased with increasing sediment input. Base-level change experiments used initial conditions of 400 mL/min, a 1:750 sediment to water input ratio, and a 6 cm initial base-level to induce rivermeanders for the initial 2 hours before base-level change occurred. Three separate experiments investigated the effects of increasing rates of sea level change: 0.07 cm/min, 0.1 cm/min, and 0.2 cm/min. Experimental sea level was decreased constantly from a high-stand of 6 cm to a low-stand of 2 cm back to the high-stand base-level in each experiment. The rates of change in the experiments scale roughly from central to glacial cycles. In all three experiments, sea level fall induced meander cut-off while sea level rise prompted greater rates of meander bend erosion and meander growth. Sinuosity increased by 12%, 13.5%, and 24

The majority of the world's floodplains are dammed. Although some implications of dams for riverine ecology and for river channel morphology are well understood, there is less research on the impacts of dams on floodplain geomorphology. We review studies from dammed and undammed rivers and include influences on vertical and lateral accretion, meandermigration and cutoff formation, avulsion, and interactions with floodplain vegetation. The results are synthesized into a conceptual model of the effects of dams on the major geomorphic influences on floodplain development. This model is used to assess the likely consequences of eight dam and flow regulation scenarios for floodplain geomorphology. Sediment starvation downstream of dams has perhaps the greatest potential to impact on floodplain development. Such effects will persist further downstream where tributary sediment inputs are relatively low and there is minimal buffering by alluvial sediment stores. We can identify several ways in which floodplains might potentially be affected by dams, with varying degrees of confidence, including a distinction between passive impacts (floodplain disconnection) and active impacts (changes in geomorphological processes and functioning). These active processes are likely to have more serious implications for floodplain function and emphasize both the need for future research and the need for an “environmental sediment regime” to operate alongside environmental flows. PMID:24587718

The majority of the world's floodplains are dammed. Although some implications of dams for riverine ecology and for river channel morphology are well understood, there is less research on the impacts of dams on floodplain geomorphology. We review studies from dammed and undammed rivers and include influences on vertical and lateral accretion, meandermigration and cutoff formation, avulsion, and interactions with floodplain vegetation. The results are synthesized into a conceptual model of the effects of dams on the major geomorphic influences on floodplain development. This model is used to assess the likely consequences of eight dam and flow regulation scenarios for floodplain geomorphology. Sediment starvation downstream of dams has perhaps the greatest potential to impact on floodplain development. Such effects will persist further downstream where tributary sediment inputs are relatively low and there is minimal buffering by alluvial sediment stores. We can identify several ways in which floodplains might potentially be affected by dams, with varying degrees of confidence, including a distinction between passive impacts (floodplain disconnection) and active impacts (changes in geomorphological processes and functioning). These active processes are likely to have more serious implications for floodplain function and emphasize both the need for future research and the need for an "environmental sediment regime" to operate alongside environmental flows.

Highly sinuous rivers inset in bedrock canyons have long piqued the interest of geomorphologists because this sinuous morphology evokes comparisons to more actively migratingrivers with relatively weak sediment banks. An extensive literature debates the degree to which meanderingrivers in bedrock valleys have inherited their sinuosity from previous alluvial states, or instead actively maintain sinuosity through bank migration at a rate sensitive to environmental characteristics (e.g., climate and lithology). This distinction is essential to evaluating whether bedrock channel sinuosity and valley morphology can be used to infer regional base-level and climate history, or instead reflect initial conditions. Previous work has considered sinuosity inheritance to occur by river vertical incision directly translating the form of a meandering channel from its alluvial state to a bedrock-bound state, yet the rate of vertical incision required to cause this state transition is uncertain. Here we explore the hypothesis that feedbacks between channel lateral migration and vertical incision, communicated through the composition of the channel banks, may influence channel planform geometry during an alluvial-to-bedrock transition. We use a numerical model to evaluate the transient morphologic and kinematic response of an alluvial river to different vertical incision histories and initial valley configurations. The model uses a vector-based framework for bank-material tracking to precisely model feedbacks between channel lateral migration and bank strength. Model results suggest that the tendency for a channel to remain highly laterally mobile depends on the vertical incision rate, but also on the width of the valley formed by lateral channel migration: bedrock valley floors are more easily bevelled by channel sweeping within narrow valleys than for wide valleys. For cases in which the channel cannot bevel across the initial valley width, lateral variations in bank strength

Sediment may be stored briefly or for long periods in alluvial deposits adjacent to rivers. The duration of sediment storage may affect diagenesis, and controls the timing of sediment delivery, affecting the propagation of upland sediment signals caused by tectonics, climate change, and land use, and the efficacy of watershed management strategies designed to reduce sediment loading to estuaries and reservoirs. Understanding the functional form of storage time distributions can help to extrapolate from limited field observations and improve forecasts of sediment loading. We simulate stratigraphy adjacent to a modeled river where meandermigration is driven by channel curvature. The basal unit is built immediately as the channel migrates away, analogous to a point bar; rules for overbank (flood) deposition create thicker deposits at low elevations and near the channel, forming topographic features analogous to natural levees, scroll bars, and terraces. Deposit age is tracked everywhere throughout the simulation, and the storage time is recorded when the channel returns and erodes the sediment at each pixel. 210 ky of simulated run time is sufficient for the channel to migrate 10,500 channel widths, but only the final 90 ky are analyzed. Storage time survivor functions are well fit by exponential functions until 500 years (point bar) or 600 years (overbank) representing the youngest 50% of eroded sediment. Then (until an age of 12 ky, representing the next 48% (point bar) or 45% (overbank) of eroding sediment), the distributions are well fit by heavy tailed power functions with slopes of -1 (point bar) and -0.75 (overbank). After 12 ky (6% of model run time) the remainder of the storage time distributions become exponential (light tailed). Point bar sediment has the greatest chance (6%) of eroding at 120 years, as the river reworks recently deposited point bars. Overbank sediment has an 8% chance of eroding after 1 time step, a chance that declines by half after 3

Channel changes in meanderingrivers naturally exhibit complex behaviour, and understanding the river dynamics can be challenging in environments also subject to cumulative human impacts. Planform changes were analysed on four reaches of the lower course of the Peixe River, Brazil, at decadal scales over the period 1962-2008 from aerial photographs and satellite imagery, complemented by a historical map from 1907. Analysis of the spatial and temporal patterns of channel change mechanisms and morphometry of bends and of the sinuosity and morphodynamic variations of the reaches demonstrates major changes in planform characteristics. Sinuosity in all reaches decreased from 2.6 to 1.7, average wavelength of bends has increased from 200 to 500 m, and the planform has become much simpler. Changes have been progressive from downstream to upstream, with higher intensities of processes, particularly cutoffs first in downstream reaches then more recently in upstream reaches. It is suggested that channel changes represent a morphological adjustment to human interventions, such as reservoir construction and land use. However, evidence of the autogenic behaviour of meanders is highlighted in which the existence of compound meanders reveals control over the spatial variation in the reaches. The results suggest that geomorphic thresholds associated with the compound meander formation and the bend evolution should be considered, even in impacted meanderingrivers, because they exert primary controls on the spatial-temporal adjustment of channels.

The continuous wavelet transform is applied to the analysis of curvature signals from both synthetic meanders and 52 realizations from 16 natural meanders ranging from class B to class G (Brice classification), thus providing information on the spatial distribution of their arc-wavelength spectrum, and therefore, representing an objective characterization of meanders. Past research has studied the meander dynamics by using the centerline (short-term frame) and the valley centerline (long-term frame). The present study introduces a medium term frame, termed the mean center (MC), which is defined as the medium term coherent wave being present in the meander planimetry for a period that is strongly governed by the occurrence of cutoff events; although in the absence of them, it is present for ˜10 to ˜30 years. The MC is obtained by using a methodology that combines the capabilities of the principal component analysis and the discrete wavelet transforms. The application of wavelet cross correlation shows that peaks in the centerline curvature are strongly correlated with those of the MC suggesting that (1) a linear relationship between them may be associated to bank processes and, (2) in all other cases, a higher nonlinear relationship may be induced by autogenic hydrodynamic processes. In freely meanderingrivers, compound bends, multiple loops, and cutoff events are associated to peaks in the MC local curvature. We define the planform amplitudes as the orthogonal distance of the centerline from mean center. Planform amplitudes (orthogonal distance of the centerline from mean center) are normally distributed and ranges from 2 to 20 river mean widths.

This work is motivated by the uncertainty about the presence and rate of steepening in river and valley hydraulic gradients bounding meander bends during meander cutoff, and how these gradients may affect river restoration designs. Our science question is whether the river and valley hydraulic gradients are equal and unchanging during meander cutoff. Laboratory investigations are underway prior to field experiments and model simulations. The laboratory physical model is a 2.1m x 0.9m EmRiver Process Simulator, running approximately 20 minutes per simulation, using particulate matter with a specific gravity of 1.6, a flow rate of 45ml/s, an initial river cross-section averaging 24cm2, and a range of radius of curvature from 15cm to 18cm. We calculated gradient using river water surface and valley watertable measurements, and their separation along a fixed orientation parallel to the valley slope, not along the thalweg. Measurements were taken with auto level, rod, and tape, and orthoimagery was captured to refine estimates of channel geometry. The ERDAS Leica Photogrammetry Suite processes digital images to generate digital elevation models (DEM) of the system. Initial results have confirmed a steepening of the river hydraulic gradient, from 4% to 5.5% for initial radius of curvature of 15cm, and from 7.7% to 10.9% for curvature of 18cm. The valley watertable gradient has a slight reduction or flattening of about 0.4%. Changes in channel geometry during cutoff include adjustments to cross-sectional area and increasing meander wavelength and sinuosity.

The concept of a threshold discharge-slope (Q-s) combination that separates braided from meandering streams is critically re-examined, partly by review of previous data, and partly by analysis of new data from South Island, New Zealand. It is argue d that discriminant functions that use mean annual discharge provide a poor physical basis for interpretations based on natural processes, while bankfull discharge is also deficient because it is not a fully independent variable. The common use of channel (rather than valley) slope adds a further misleading component because channel slope is partly dependent on channel pattern sinuosity. Most previous studies have inadequately treated the role of bed particle size in pattern discrimination, failing to recognize that active gravel streams must plot higher on a Q-s chart than sand-bed channels — irrespective of pattern — because of the greater power requirements for bed material movement. Within any one size class of bed material there is no evidence to indicate a clear discrimination between braiding and meandering, only a weak statistical association between pattern and slope-discharge values. While this association may be explicable in terms of the high shear stress and stream power (that accompany high Qs-values) promoting braiding, the real prerequisite for braiding appears to be high loads of bed-calibre material (producing wide shallow channels), a factor that is only partly controlled by stream power. Accordingly, the search for a pattern threshold based on discharge and slope seems to be a futile exercise. An interpretation of existing pattern discriminant functions from the perspective of the threshold shear stress for particle movement is made. It is concluded that, in effect, these functions merely state that gravel-bed streams are more likely to be braided than channels in finer sediment. Statistically this appears to be valid, and reasons for that difference are offered based on the balance between

The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory Outdoor StreamLab (OSL) at the University of Minnesota was constructed in 2008 as field-scale sand bed meandering stream channel within a vegetated floodplain. This state-of-the-art facility provides the unique opportunity to investigate physical, chemical, and biological stream and floodplain processes in a controlled outdoor environment with laboratory-quality measurement capabilities. The research presented here summarizes results from several experiments conducted in the OSL examining the effect of three-dimensional (3-D) flow fields on sediment transport and bedform development. Specifically, we examined bedform dimensions and flow fields in two scenarios 1) in the vicinity immobile rock structures, and 2) on the quasi-equilibrium bar that formed on the inner bank of a meander. A combination of methods were used for each study to determine the rate of scour hole formation, quasi-equilibrium bed elevation and variation in bed elevation, and bedform size and spacing. Bed topography data were collected at 1 cm resolution under live-bed conditions using a downward looking sonar probe attached to a mobile data acquisition (DAQ) cart. At each DAQ station, repeat scans were collected giving insight into the 3-dimensionality of bedforms in a meandering channel with and without rock structures. Supplementary data were collected at transects under two flow and sediment conditions (280 L/s and 6 kg/min and 199 L/s and 4 kg/min, for water and sediment, respectively) using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) and a profiling ADV to measure 3-D flow fields and concurrent velocity and bed elevation data. These data were used in conjunction with data from optical remote sensing of bedform migration in the OSL to provide a validation dataset for a high-resolution 3-D hydro-morphodynamic model that is being used to simulate flow and sediment transport processes in meandering channels with embedded rock structures (Khosronejad et al. Adv. in

The migration of meandering alluvial channels is investigated theoretically, numerically, and experimentally. An equation for the rate of bank erosion is derived from a two-dimensional continuity equation for sediment transport linked with the depth-averaged dynamic flow equations. A simple one-dimensional theoretical analysis of meandermigration leads to a relationship between the migration rate and the relative channel curvature and sediment properties. The simple model appropriately simulates the pattern and rate of meander expansion and migrations of the White River, Indiana and the East Nishnabotna River, Iowa. Application of the one-dimensional model to sine -generated alluvial channels indicates that meandermigration reaches its maximum when the relative radius of curvature reaches about 4.8, or when the sinuosity of meander approaches 1.3. A two-dimensional numerical model, DYNAMIC, which predicts both lateral and longitudinal migration of alluvial channels is then developed, based on a system of quasi -steady depth-averaged flow dynamic equations, a sediment continuity equation, and a bank erosion equation. A linear analysis of the two-dimensional model leads to a convolutional relation between the rate of meandermigration and flow and sediment properties. In the two-dimensional numerical analysis, a numerical algorithm called FLOWSOL is developed to solve the flow dynamic equations. The flow algorithm is then linked to the sediment continuity equation and bank erosion equation to simulate bed deformation and bank erosion. The developed two-dimensional model is applied to calculate the velocity profiles in Rozovskii's experiments and the bed deformation and shear stress in Hooke's experiments. Good agreement is obtained between the calculated and measured velocities, shear stresses and bed profiles in all experiments. Small scaled meanderingrivers are developed successfully on a floodplain with or without cohesive materials (about 3%) in a wide

Sedimentation in river reduces the flood carrying capacity which lead to the increasing of inundation area in the river basin. Basic sediment transport can predict the fluvial processes in natural rivers and stream through modeling approaches. However, the sediment transport dynamic in a small meandering and low-lying fluvial system is considered scarce in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to analyze the current riverbed erosion and sedimentation scenarios along the Chini River, Pekan, Pahang. The present study revealed that silt and clay has potentially been eroded several parts of the river. Sinuosity index (1.98) indicates that Chini River is very unstable and continuous erosion process in waterways has increase the riverbank instability due to the meandering factors. The riverbed erosional and depositional process in the Chini River is a sluggish process since the lake reduces the flow velocity and causes the deposited particles into the silt and clay soil at the bed of the lake. Besides, the bed layer of the lake comprised of cohesive silt and clayey composition that tend to attach the larger grain size of sediment. The present study estimated the total sediment accumulated along the Chini River is 1.72 ton. The HEC-RAS was employed in the simulations and in general the model performed well, once all parameters were set within their effective ranges.

Exposure of a sedimentary sequence along a Mississippi River bluff at Mt. Pleasant, Louisiana, provides insight into the construction of the Prairie Terraces. This site serves as a type section for a late Pleistocene meander belt of the Mississippi River, and stratigraphic features have been traced beneath the Prairie Terraces in southeastern Louisiana. A 23.35-m measured section reveals upper units of Peoria loess and mixed loess. The described meander-belt facies are of a probable Wisconsin age and are here named the Mt. Pleasant Bluff alloformation. This age designation is based on position in the stratigraphic section, degree of preservation of sedimentary facies, character and degree of development of the upper paleosol, preservation of constructional topography beneath the loess, and correlation of this sequence to nearby sites with Wisconsin-age radiocarbon dates.

On large meanderingrivers, riparian forests coevolve with the floodplains that support them. Floodplain characteristics such as local disturbance regime, deposition rates and sediment texture drive plant community dynamics, which in turn feed back to the abiotic processes. We investigated floodplain and riparian forest coevolution along the along the Sacramento River (California, USA), a large, mediterranean-climate river that has been extensively regulated for 70 years, but whose 160-km middle reach (Red Bluff to Colusa) retains some channel mobility and natural forest stands. Guided by maps of floodplain change over time and current vegetation cover, we conducted an extensive forest inventory and chronosequence analysis to quantify how abiotic conditions and forest structural characteristics such as tree density, basal area and biomass vary with floodplain age. We inventoried 285 fixed-area plots distributed across 19 large point bars within vegetation patches ranging in age from 4 to 107 years. Two successional trajectories were evident: (1) shifting species dominance over time within forested areas, from willow to cottonwood to walnut, boxelder and valley oak; and (2) patches of shrub willow (primarily Salix exigua) that maintained dominance throughout time. Sediment accretion was reduced in the persistent willow plots compared to the successional forest stands, suggesting an association between higher flood energy and arrested succession. Forested stands 40-60 years old were the most extensive across the chronosequence in terms of floodplain area, and supported the highest biomass, species diversity, and functional wildlife habitat. These stands were dominated by Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and reached their maxima in terms of tree size and biomass at age 50 years. The persistent willow stands reached their structural maxima earlier (32 years) and supported lower biomass. Basal area and abundance of large trees decreased in stands >90 years old

Braided stream deposits, described in a previous article in this series, and meandering stream deposits commonly are excellent reservoirs. Meandering high-sinuousity channels are found on flat alluvial plains with slopes less than 1 1/2/sup 0/ (0.026 rad). These rivers have wide ranges of discharges from low-water flow to flood stage. Two main processes are responsible for development of sand bodies. These are point-bar deposits left by channel migration, and oxbow-lake deposits left in loops of the river course abandoned when the stream cuts a new course during flooding. Extremely high floods spill over the banks and deposit sheets of very fine sand, silt, and clay onto the flood plain.

Freely meandering (quasi)natural reaches of lowland rivers represent a rare phenomenon in Central Europe. Increasing attention is currently being paid to the dynamics of quasi-natural (artificially influenced) meanderingrivers as this attention represents the basic prerequisite for the development of appropriate restoration strategies on regulated rivers. This study focused on a 5.5 km long reach of the Morava River in the Strážnické Pomoraví region, Czech Republic that is characterised by quasi-natural evolution after substantial engineering adjustments were made in the first decades of the twentieth century. Based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis of aerial photographs, the spatio-temporal dynamics of bank erosion and accretion rates were quantitatively described and variables that control channel migration rates were identified. High rates of lateral shifts were localised in high sinuosity segments (sinuosity 1.17-2.37), whereas segments with very low rates were straight or formed into slightly curved bends (sinuosity 1.05-1.18). As a key factor, engineering works that influenced local river bed slope and induced a dramatic increase in bank erosion rates were identified. River engineering works induced a dramatic increase in bank erosion rate (2.19 m/year for 1938-53 and 1.47 m/year for 1953-63). An interval of approximately 25 years was needed before the erosion rates dropped back to values documented before river regulation (0.35-1.09 m/year for 1841-1938). Other important controlling variables included radius of curvature, frequency and magnitude of floods and, locally, river bank material properties and floodplain land cover.

Shear stress in meandering channels is the key parameter to predict bank erosion and bend migration. A representative study reach of the Rio Grande River in central New Mexico has been modeled in the Hydraulics Laboratory at CSU. To determine the shear stress distribution in a meandering channel, the large scale (1:12) physical modeling study was conducted in the...

We explore the existence of a single width-discharge regime relation for alluvial rivers of braided and meandering patterns. The study relies on the field measurement of a channel's cross section geometry (width, depth), discharge, and grain size of 98 individual threads of braided and meanderingrivers from the Ganga-Brahmaputra plains of the Himalayan Foreland. Using this data set, we show that, irrespective of the diverse climatic and geologic setting along the strike, the braided and meandering threads share statistically indistinguishable regime relations and scale according to Lacey's law. To explain the observed trend in this empirical relationship, we use the threshold theory introduced by Glover and Florey (1951). Using this theory we detrend our data with respect to discharge to produce a statistically homogeneous ensemble of width measurements. The statistical distribution of the detrended width is similar for braided and meandering threads of the entire plains of the Foreland. This suggests that when we decompose a braided river into individual threads, each of these resemble single-thread meanderingrivers. Based on this study, we conclude that the individual threads of braided and meanderingrivers of the Himalayan Foreland are geometrically comparable and share a common width-discharge regime relation.

Energy harvesting devices with rotor axis oriented with the flow generate a wake which is unstable due to the complex interactions among turbulent structures from the incoming flow, root, hub and tip vortices (see Foti et al. APS/DFD 2014). Experiments in wind tunnel and open-channel flow with erodible surface show similar meandering patterns in the velocity field, which are responsible for the far wake expansion and the incoming turbulence experienced by down-wind/stream units. Wake meandering statistics were observed to depend on the operating turbine conditions (tip speed ratio), upstream device siting (turbine - turbine interaction) or specific turbine kinematics (floating turbine under waves). In addition, for wall boundary conditions defined by an erodible surface, where sand grains respond to local shear stress by moving (erosion) or settling (deposition), turbines were observed to induce dynamic topographic perturbations also exhibiting meandering patterns. This occurred in limited mobility conditions and under migrating bedforms, with large scale topographic features amplified under specific asymmetric turbine configurations. The work opens up the possibility to place turbines in complex flows optimizing their performance while maintaining, or reshaping, the surrounding topography by specific control or siting strategies. Resarch supported by NSF CAREER: CBET-1351303, IREE early career UMN, DOE Grant DE-EE0005482, NSF PFI Grant IIP-1318201.

Rates and processes of lateral erosion were studied for the middle Sacramento River between Chico Landing and Colusa, Calif. , a river distance of about 50 miles which is bordered by valuable agricultural land. The study is based on comparison of maps made during 1867-1949 and on aerial photographs made during 1924-74. Meander loops migrate by downstream translation in a direction nearly perpendicular to the loop axis. Loops are cut off by straight or diagonal chutes across the meander neck. The sinuosity of the river has gradually decreased from a value of 1.56 in 1896 to 1.35 in 1974. The morphology and curvature of meander loops cut off before white settlers came to the area indicate that the river was more stable, as well as more sinuous , then than now; subsequent morphologic changes are attributed mainly to the clearing of riparian vegetation and the effects of levees in reducing the area of overflow. The bank-erosion is 1.82 acres per year per stream mile or about 15 feet per year per stream foot for the period 1896-1974. (Woodard-USGS)

Meandering in bedrock rivers is not well understood, despite the fact that both sinuosity and strath terraces (both products of meandering) are commonly interpreted in tectonic or climatic contexts. To better understand bedrock rivermeandering, here we compare a meandering bedrock river in the Santa Cruz Mountains, USA (Pescadero Creek) to an adjacent river (Butano Creek) that does not meander. This natural experiment allows us to isolate the effects of lithology on lateral erosion processes since these two adjacent rivers have similar driving stress, valley orientation to prevailing weather systems, and structural setting, but incise contrasting lithologies: weak sandstone along Butano and weak mudstone along Pescadero. Building on published observations that some mudstones lose strength when subjected to wetting and drying of expansive clay minerals, we test the hypothesis that lateral bank erosion occurs in Pescadero Creek because wetting and drying of mudstone above the low water line weakens bank rock to the point where it can easily be detached by clear water flows on the exposed outside banks of river bends. We collected rock from below low summer water levels in order to explore how drying and rewetting influence the mechanical properties of the two sampled lithologies. Tensile strength measurements reveal that the mudstone was weak (~ 0.2 MPa, n = 6) before drying, visibly fractured but slightly stronger when measured dry (~ 0.6 MPa, n = 11), and upon rewetting disintegrated to washload, making strength testing impossible. Sandstone strength varied between sample sites (~0.1 - 0.8MPa, n=12) but has no consistent relationship to wetting, drying or rewetting. In the field, we tested the detachability of bedrock under a calibrated water jet and found that only mudstone above low water levels (subjected to repeated wetting and drying) was detachable by clear water flows. Saturated mudstone (from at the low water line) and sandstone (both dry and wet) did not

Sensitivity of flow and sediment transport in a meanderingriver to variations in scaling and flow rate was studied. The FLUENT™ code was used for evaluating the river flow characteristics, including the mean velocity field and the Reynolds stress components, as well as for particle trajectory analysis. Particular attention was given to the sensitivity of the sedimentation patterns of different size particles in the river bend for various scales. Simulation studies were performed for both a model river and a physical river. The physical river was geometrically similar to the model river, with a scaling ratio of 1:100, but with identical Froude number. The flow and particle deposition patterns in the physical and model rivers were compared. It was shown that the mean flow quantities exhibit dynamic similarity, but the turbulence parameters and the particle sedimentation features in the physical river were different from the model. The secondary flows and particle transport patterns were also found to be sensitive to variation in the scale and flow rate.

The geometry of rivers has been characterized in terms of downstream and at-a-station hydraulic geometry, based on individual cross sections. Such analyses do not, however, provide insight as to how these cross sections are connected. We generalize the concept of hydraulic geometry, using data on bathymetry from four reaches of meanderingrivers that include at least five bends. We quantify connectivity in terms of the probability that a connected path exists such that a given attribute remains within specified bounds along it. While the concept is general, here we apply it to vessel navigability. We develop a predictor for navigability in meanderingrivers, which requires only the following, relatively easily obtained input: vessel draft, vessel width, bankfull depth, bankfull width, relative difference between current and bankfull water surface elevation, and length of desired navigation path. The predictor is applicable to both bankfull and below-bankfull stage. A key input parameter is the standard deviation of the probability distribution of depth. This parameter, in and of itself, yields no information on connectivity as it does not capture the spatial orientation of depth variation. We find, however, that (a) the probability function for connectivity does depend on this parameter, and (b) its use allows for an approximate similarity collapse of the probability function, so providing a quasi-universal predictive relation applying to all four reaches. The results also suggest potential application to more complex forms for connectivity that involve other or multiple in-stream physical variables.

The meander belt of the Mississippi River, in southeastern Missouri, consists of four distinct facies groups: (1) river channel/point bar, (2) chute, (3) crevasse splay/levee, and (4) abandoned channel fill. A depositional model and vertical sequences have been developed from drill cores, vibra-cores, trenches, fathometer surveys, and mapping of these principal facies. This model and he vertical sequences compare very well to ancient sequences because the Mississippi River is a large, significant river with ancient analogs.

Meandering Mississippi - May 28th, 2003 Description: Small, blocky shapes of towns, fields, and pastures surround the graceful swirls and whorls of the Mississippi River. Countless oxbow lakes and cutoffs accompany the meanderingriver south of Memphis, Tennessee, on the border between Arkansas and Mississippi, USA. The "mighty Mississippi" is the largest river system in North America. Credit: USGS/NASA/Landsat 7 To learn more about the Landsat satellite go to: landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

A coupled sedimentary and hydrogeological model is used to quantify the impact of sedimentary heterogeneities and sinuosity on groundwater fluxes in an alluvial plain deposited by a meandering fluvial system. A 3D heterogeneous alluvial plain model is built with the stochastic/process-based model FLUMY, that simulates the evolution and the sedimentary processes of a meandering channel and its associated deposits. The resulting sedimentary blocks are translated in terms of hydrodynamic parameters (hydrofacies) and used in the 3D transient water transport model METIS. The simulated domain is 10 m-thick and at a pluri-kilometric horizontal scale, allowing considering several meanders. A head gradient between the upstream and downstream limits is imposed. The river is considered as a constant-head boundary that decreases linearly along the channel centerline. A zero-flux condition is prescribed on the other boundaries. Several cases are studied, including different degrees of sinuosity and different configurations of sediment heterogeneity: (i) a homogeneous sandy aquifer (ii) single mud-filled oxbow lake in a sandy porous media, (iii) several mud-filled oxbow lakes in a sandy porous media, and (iv) "fully" heterogeneous alluvial plain including fine-grained overbank deposits, sandy point bars, mudplugs and sandy crevasse plays. We quantify the exchange rates and directions between the river and the aquifer along the channel centerline, the piezometric evolution and the water residence time in the heterogeneous alluvial plain. This original method can improve our understanding of the functioning of alluvial corridors and evaluate the relevance of taking into account the structural heterogeneity of alluvial plains in larger regional hydrogeological models.

The deposition of fine particles (clay and silt) and organic matters in alluvial sediments can substantially reduce the permeability of streambed sediments and extend towards the wider floodplain. The resulting hydraulic conductivity patterns within the streambed and floodplain have been shown to control both location as well as intensity of hyporheic exchange in many lowland rivers. The aim of the study is to investigate the variability in streambed permeability fields in an unprecedented spatial resolution and quantify the impacts on controlling hyporheic exchange fluxes in the River Tern, a UK lowland meandering stream. Geophysical surveys were conducted deploying Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in conjunction with geological information derived from core logs and bank exposures for mapping shallow subsurface structural heterogeneity. The GPR survey deployed a pulse EKKO pro equipped with a shielded 250 MHz antenna. For the floodplain survey, GPR profiles of 12 NE-SW and 6 NW- SE orientation profiles were taken creating a raster of approximately 10 m. The riparian terrestrial GPR surveys were accompanied by a longitudinal in channel GPR survey for which the antenna was deployed on a floating device. At locations identified to be representative for the range of streambed hydrofacies identified by GPR in investigated stream reach, multi-level mini-piezometer networks were installed in the streambed for monitoring groundwater-surface water exchange fluxes, and conducting dilution tracer tests for quantification of residence time distributions at the aquifer-river interface. Quasi-three-dimensional GPR profiles from closely spaced grids of 2D GPR data of floodplain deposits indicated a range of different radar facies and helped to delineate the type and extend of high and low conductive materials. The results of longitudinal GPR survey along a 240 m section of the river channel revealed that areas rich in low conductivity layers such as organic peat and clay lenses

River restoration is a key-issue for European hydrosystems that were modified over centuries by human activities. This is particularly true for numerous low energy rivers flowing in the plateaus of Western Europe. Because of this limited energy, their potential in terms of autogenic restoration a priori appears strongly restricted. This study examines the conditions under which the morphogenesis on one of these systems occurs in relation to various hydrologic conditions. Two complementary approaches are combined on three reaches of the meandering Cher River (France). Firstly, we examine at a pluri-decadal scale the control of duration, frequency and intensity of floods on the planimetric erosion (bank retreat mainly). Secondly, we estimate the range of effective discharge for bedload transport. The results show that the morphogenesis is controlled by low magnitude hydrological events. Two major controlling factors are suggested: low differential of energy between small and large floods, peculiar to low energy rivers of mid-latitude, and low critical discharges for lateral erosion and bedload mobilization. For these reasons, the ability of the alluvial Cher River to self-restore its fluvial dynamics seems to be relatively high.

Observational evidence is presented on the geometry of meandering tidal channels evolved within coastal wetlands characterized by different tidal, hydrodynamic, to- pographic, vegetational and ecological features. New insight is provided on the ge- ometrical properties of tidal meanders, with possible dynamic implications on their evolution. In particular, it is shown that large spatial gradients of leading flow rates induce important spatial variabilities of meander wavelengths and widths, while their ratio remains remarkably constant in the range of scales of observation. This holds regardless of changes in width and wavelength up to two orders of magnitude. This suggests a locally adapted evolution, involving the morphological adjustment to the chief landforming events driven by local hydrodynamics. The spectral analysis of lo- cal curvatures reveals that Kinoshita's model curve does not fit tidal meanders due to the presence of even harmonics, in particular the second mode. Geometric parameters are constructed that are suitable to detect possible geomorphic signatures of the tran- sitions from ebb- to flood-dominated hydrodynamics, here related to the skewness of the tidal meander. Trends in skewness, however, prove elusive to measure and fail to show detectable patterns. We also study comparatively the spatial patterns of evolu- tion of the ratios of channel width to depth, and the ratio of width to local radius of curvature. Interestingly, the latter ratio exhibits consistency despite sharp differences in channel incision. Since the degree of incision, epitomized by the width-to-depth ratio, responds to the relevant erosion and migrations mechanisms and is much sen- sitive to vegetation and sediment properties, it is noticeable that we observe a great variety of landscape carving modes and yet recurrent planar features like constant width/curvature and wavelength/width ratios.

Observational evidence is presented on the geometry of meandering tidal channels evolved within coastal wetlands characterized by different tidal, hydrodynamic, topographic, vegetational and ecological features. New insight is provided on the geometrical properties of tidal meanders, with possible dynamic implications on their evolution. In particular, it is shown that large spatial gradients of leading flow rates induce important spatial variabilities of meander wavelengths and widths, while their ratio remains remarkably constant in the range of scales of observation. This holds regardless of changes in width and wavelength up to two orders of magnitude. This suggests a locally adapted evolution, involving the morphological adjustment to the chief landforming events driven by local hydrodynamics. The spectral analysis of local curvatures reveals that Kinoshita's model curve does not fit tidal meanders due to the presence of even harmonics, in particular the second mode. Geometric parameters are constructed that are suitable to detect possible geomorphic signatures of the transitions from ebb- to flood-dominated hydrodynamics, here related to the skewness of the tidal meander. Trends in skewness, however, prove elusive to measure and fail to show detectable patterns. We also study comparatively the spatial patterns of evolution of the ratios of channel width to depth, and the ratio of width to local radius of curvature. Interestingly, the latter ratio exhibits consistency despite sharp differences in channel incision. Since the degree of incision, epitomized by the width-to-depth ratio, responds to the relevant erosion and migrations mechanisms and is much sensitive to vegetation and sediment properties, it is noticeable that we observe a great variety of landscape carving modes and yet recurrent planar features like constant width/curvature and wavelength/width ratios.

Planimetric river hazard assessments, typically delineated as meander-belts, are complicated in southern Ontario by rivers which are incised into thick glacial sediments. Active and relic floodplain surfaces are topographically diverse, with river terraces commonly observed in the valleys due to deglacial and Holocene incision. Consequently, channels are often in contact with a mixed boundary of alluvial and glaciogenic sediments. Accepted meander-belt delineation procedures and protocols vary between intra-national and international jurisdictions; however, a focus on planimetric mapping and historical techniques is common place. In the southern Ontario context, this type of reach-scale river hazard assessment is important for protection of upland property, erosion risks to valley bottom infrastructure, and delineation of new development limits. Given the ecological and public safety benefits, there is growing acceptance and expectation that river bank erosion processes should be preserved within an erodible corridor, with a decreased emphasis on channel intervention and engineering approaches where possible. However, the use of planimetric meander- belt delineation techniques for incised valley settings frequently meets both practical and conceptual challenges. This study explores the potential for a Topographic Erodible Corridor Concept (TECC) as an improved representation of river evolution compared to the traditional planimetric techniques, particularly in previously glaciated regions. Such a concept would account for differences in erodible volumes of sediment associated with topographic variations within incised river valleys. Application of this concept is investigated using raster analysis of a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM), within widely available GIS software. Initial results from a case study on Highland Creek (Ontario) confirm that the corridor alignment and diverse topography of the incised valley morphology are well represented by a

Stream channel planforms measured from such streams as the Hatchie (H), L'Anguille (LA), St. Francis, White (W) and Little Red (LR) rivers provide a way to study influences of topographic warping between the loess bluffs that bound the Mississippi river valley. Planforms are analyzed using sinuosity, Richardson analysis, and pattern. Pattern changes include transitions from braided to meandering and meandering to straight. Sinuosities of the W and LR rivers show a transition from low sinuosity, [1.3, 1.4] to higher sinuosity [2.6, 2.8], over a short distance, as they cross the bluffs from the uplands to the Western Lowlands. On the east, the Hatchie changes from a braided to meandering pattern upon crossing the bluffs. Its sinuosity varies from a low of about 1.4 to a high of 2.2, coincident with a marsh area. The LA river flows on the west side of Crowley's Ridge and is paralleled by the St. Francis river on the east. These rivers, with very different drainage areas and sinuosities, show matching meander bends at similar wavelengths along Crowley's Ridge. The bends are about 10 km in 1/2 wavelength suggesting some extraordinary influence on pattern perpendicular to the ridge. Richardson analysis indicates that features with a 1/2 wavelength of 2 km may control several rivers' bending patterns. These features are analyzed to determine their spatial relations with one another.

The Holocene evolution of the shallow alluvial valley occupied by the Red River was investigated at two successive rivermeanders near St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba. A transect of five boreholes was sited across the flood plain at each meander to follow the path of lateral channel migration. From the cores, 24 wood and charcoal samples were AMS radiocarbon dated. The dates from the lower half of the alluvium in each core are interpreted to represent the age of the lateral accretion deposits within the flood plain at the borehole sites. The ages of these deposits increase progressively from ˜900 to 7900 and 1000 to 8100 cal years B.P. along each transect, respectively, from the proximal to distal portions of the flood plain. At the upstream meander, the average rate of channel migration was initially 0.35 m/year between ˜7900 and 7400 cal years B.P., then decreased to 0.18 m/year between ˜7400 and 6200 cal years B.P., and subsequently varied between 0.04 and 0.08 m/year. Net channel incision of the river since 8100 cal years B.P. is estimated to have ranged between 0.4 and 0.8 m/ky. The pre-6000-years-B.P. interval of greater channel migration is hypothesized to reflect a higher phase of sediment supply that was associated with the establishment of the river system on the former bed of glacial Lake Agassiz. Since 1000 years B.P., the outward migration of the meanders has caused a gradual enlarging of 0.7-2% in the cross-sectional area of the shallow valley at the two meanders. When considered proportionally over timescales of up to several centuries, the widening of the valley cross-section is very low to negligible and is deemed an insignificant factor affecting the modern flood hazard on the clay plain.

River channel dynamics play an important role in creating and maintaining diverse habitat conditions for multiple life stages of aquatic organisms. As a result, many river restoration projects seek to re-establish ecosystems in which an enhanced degree of habitat complexity is sustained through natural fluvial processes of flow, sediment transport, and channel change. Few field cases have effectively quantified the evolution of channel morphology and habitat complexity in restored rivers, however, and the outcomes of restoration actions remain difficult to predict. Our objective was to quantify the extent to which morphology, flow complexity and salmonid spawning and rearing habitat develop from the simplified initial conditions commonly observed in re-configured meandering channels. Using a time-series of topographic data, we measured rates of morphologic change in a recently restored gravel-bed reach of the Merced River, California, USA. We constructed two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic models to quantify how the evolving morphology influenced hydraulic conditions, flow complexity and suitability for Chinook salmon spawning and rearing. Following two large flood events, point bar development led to order-of-magnitude increases in modeled flow complexity, as quantified via the metrics of kinetic energy gradient, vorticity and hydraulic strain. On a bend-averaged scale, morphologic changes produced up to a two-fold increase in flow circulation, indicating a direct linkage between geomorphic processes and the development of habitat complexity at both the local (1.0 m2 grid cell) and meander wavelength scale. Habitat modeling indicated that the availability of Chinook salmon spawning habitat has increased over time, whereas the majority of the reach provides low-medium quality rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids, primarily due to a lack of low velocity refuge zones. These results demonstrate the ability of geomorphic processes to increase flow complexity and

Accurate representations of river bathymetry are essential for understanding channel morphodynamics and sediment routing. Repeat surveys of channel topography using sophisticated technology can elucidate where depositional surfaces occur and whether they are acting as net accumulation zones or places of transient sediment exchange. In this study, we used an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) coupled with a real-time-kinematic GPS to collect bathymetry data upstream and downstream of a critical tributary junction where the Blue Earth River joins the Minnesota River, near Mankato, MN, USA. The Blue Earth River represents a considerable point source of coarse and fine sediment, much of which is stored within the channel and floodplain of the actively aggrading Minnesota River. This junction therefore represents a rare opportunity to study how a significant increase in sediment supply influences the form and evolution of in-channel topography. We surveyed 33 river km over 6 days in June 2013, achieving an average point density of 3.2 points/100 m2. River bathymetry is generally more variable in the transverse than the streamwise direction, so we used anisotropic interpolation techniques to construct digital elevation models (DEMs) of the surveyed channel. We transformed Cartesian coordinates to curvilinear orthogonal coordinates and generated DEMs using Hutchinson's spline, anisotropic ordinary kriging, and elliptical inverse distance weighting statistical interpolation techniques. To evaluate the performance of each interpolation method we created DEMs from a subset of the surveyed points and calculated the root mean square error between reference points in each DEM. We observed alternate bars in straight reaches downstream of the tributary junction, while straight reaches upstream were planar bed. Point bars and cutoffs were observed in meandering reaches above and below the tributary junction. Channel geometry significantly differs downstream of the Blue Earth

More than half of the Swiss electricity is produced by hydropower. Large price fluctuations cause severe hydropeaking flow regimes due to corresponding production fluctuations, which undisputedly have a negative impact on aquatic biota. Water diversion due to dams on the other hand imposes downstream residual flow regimes. The absence of flood events and regular sediment supply disrupts sediment dynamics and disconnects floodplains, which are habitats of high value, from its main channel. The residual-flow controlled reach at the Sarine river in western Switzerland is the subject of the present study. The Sarine meanders strongly and the river reach under analysis has a bed incision of locally more than 100 m. Its incision provokes the isolation of the river which is consequently minimally touched by human structures and shows a natural geomorphology. Since the construction of a dam upstream this reach in 1948, aiming at the water abstraction to hydropower, vegetation could establish and the active floodplain decreased its area, as airborne images show. Nevertheless, it is classified as a floodplain of national importance and it has been under protection since 1992. It is supposed to be a valuable habitat for a wide range of organisms. The Hydromorphological Index of Diversity (HMID) is a simple tool for quantifying the habitat richness in a river reach, taking into account the mean values and the variation of water depth and flow velocity. For channelized rivers, HMID values from up to 5 are expected, while morphological pristine sites with a high spatial variability of water depth and velocity show values of 9 or higher. For the residual flow of the Sarine River, flow depth and velocity were measured using ADCP and ADV. The results are compared with a nearby natural reference river and the outcome of a 2D numerical simulation. Finally, the behaviour and limitations of the HMID, in a hydropower affected river, are discussed. In the close future an artificial flood

It is well-known that meander bends impose local losses of energy to the flow in rivers. These local losses should be added together with friction loss to get the total loss of energy. In this work, we strive to develop a framework that considers the effect of bends in meanderingrivers for one-dimensional (1-D) homogenous equations of flow. Our objective is to develop a simple, yet physically sound, and efficient model for carrying out engineering computations of flow through meander bends. We consider several approaches for calculating 1-D hydraulic properties of meanderingrivers such as friction factor and Manning coefficient. The method of Kasper et al. (2005), which is based on channel top width, aspect ratio and radius of curvature, is adopted for further calculations. In this method, a correction is implemented in terms of local energy loss, due to helical motion and secondary currents of fluid particles driven by centrifugal force, in meanders. To validate the model, several test cases are simulated and the computed results are compared with the reported data in the literature in terms of water surface elevation, shear velocity, etc. For all cases the computed results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. 3-D RANS turbulent flow simulations are also carried out, using the method of Kang et al. (Adv. In Water Res., vol. 34, 2011), for different geometrical parameters of Kinoshita Rivers to determine the spatial distribution of shear stress on river bed and banks, which is the key factor in scour/deposition patterns. The 3-D solutions are then cross-sectionally averaged and compared with the respective solutions from the 1-D model. The comparisons show that the improved 1D model, which incorporates the effect of local bend loss, captures key flow parameters with reasonable accuracy. Our results also underscore the range of validity and limitations of 1D models for meander bend simulations. This work was supported by NSF Grants (as part of

This paper examines processes of chute channel formation in four tropical sand-bed meanderingrivers; the Strickland and Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea, the Beni in Bolivia, and the lower Paraguay on the Paraguay/Argentina border. Empirical planform analyses highlight an association between meander bend widening and chute initiation that is consistent with recent physics-based modelling work. GIS analyses indicate that bend widening may be driven by a variety of mechanisms, including scour and cutbank bench formation at sharply-curving bends, point bar erosion due to cutbank impingement against cohesive terrace material, rapid cutbank erosion at rapidly extending bends, and spontaneous mid-channel bar formation. Chute channel initiation is observed to be predominantly associated with two of these widening mechanisms; i) an imbalance between cutbank erosion and point bar deposition associated with rapid bend extension, and ii) bank erosion forced by spontaneous mid-channel bar development. The work extends previous empirical analyses, which highlighted the role of bend extension (elongation) in driving chute initiation, with the observation that the frequency of chute initiation increases once bend extension rates and/or widening ratios exceed a reach-scale threshold. A temporal pattern of increased chute initiation frequency on the Ok Tedi, in response to channel steepening and mid-channel bar development following the addition of mine tailings, mirrors the inter- and intra-reach spatial patterns of chute initiation frequency on the Paraguay, Strickland and Beni Rivers, where increased stream power and sediment load are associated with increased bend extension and chute initiation rates. The process of chute formation is shown to be rate-dependent, and the threshold values of bend extension and widening ratio for chute initiation are shown to scale with measures of river energy, reminiscent of slope-ratio thresholds in river avulsion. Furthermore, Delft3D simulations

Eroding streambanks are sometimes cited as net sources of sediment for rivers. If generally true, this presents an obvious mass balance problem: If rivers continually remove material from active floodplains without replacing all of it, then the floodplains should eventually disappear. For graded river/floodplain systems, then, deposition on the floodplain must, over the long term, balance what is eroded. However, there are at least two reasons why the net erosion due to bank migration, defined as the volume eroded from cut banks minus the volume deposited on point bars, should usually be positive. First, rivers generally migrate into natural levees that are somewhat higher in elevation than the rest of the floodplain. Since point bars are not built as high as natural levees, this represents a net loss of material from the floodplain. Second, river bends tend to migrate outwards, expanding over time. Since the eroding bank is invariably longer than the depositional bank, more material is eroded than deposited, even if the elevation at the top of both banks is constant. This leads to a steady increase in channel sinuosity over time until a cutoff occurs. For a floodplain that is in equilibrium, the erosion caused by natural levee recycling should be balanced primarily by overbank deposition, while the erosion caused by the systematic sinuosity increase should be balanced primarily by depositional processes in abandoned stream courses or oxbow lakes. Until now, it has not been clear which of the two processes is generally more important. This study presents a comparison of their relative importance, as well as system-wide net erosion rates, for portions of three U.S. rivers: a 91 km reach of the Pearl River in Louisiana, a 62 km reach of the Bogue Chitto River in Louisiana, and a 35 km reach of the Neuse River in North Carolina. The study is made possible by high resolution LIDAR datasets along these systems that represent the topography of the natural levees and

In the past 50 years, the Shishou reach in the middle Yangtze River underwent significant channel evolution owing to the implementation of an artificial cutoff, the construction of bank revetment works and the operation of the Three Gorges Project (TGP). Based on the measured hydrological data and topographic data, the processes of channel evolution in this reach were investigated mainly from the adjustments in planform and cross-sectional geometries. The variation in planform geometry obtained in this study indicates that (i) the artificial cutoff at Zhongzhouzi caused the river regime to adjust drastically, with the mean rate of thalweg migration at reach scale of 42.0 m/a over the period 1966-1975; (ii) then the effect of this artificial cutoff reduced gradually, with the mean migration rate decreasing to < 30 m/a in 1975-1993, while it increased to > 40 m/a owing to the occurrence of high water levels in 1993-1998; and (iii) the average annual rate of thalweg migration decreased to 29.3 m/a because of the impacts of various bank protection engineering and the TGP operation during the period 2002-2015. However, remarkable thalweg migration processes still occurred in local regions after the TGP operation, which resulted in significant bankline migration in local reaches of Beimenkou, Shijiatai, and Tiaoxiankou. In addition, the adjustments of bankfull channel geometry were investigated at section and reach scales after the TGP operation. Calculated results show that lateral channel migration in this reach was restricted by various river regulation works and that channel evolution was mainly characterized by an increase in bankfull depth and cross-sectional area. Empirical relationships were developed between the reach-scale bankfull dimensions (depth and area), the bankfull widths at specified sections, and the previous 5-year average fluvial erosion intensity during flood seasons, with high correlation degrees between them being obtained.

A field data set collected under different conditions is analyzed to characterize the spatial arrangement of two large inflows (Ebro and Segre) with distinct physical-chemical characteristics as they join at the upstream end of Ribarroja reservoir in northern Spain. Given the short average residence time of water in the reservoir, the spatial arrangement of the rivers at their confluence and their mixing rates are likely the drivers of the stratification patterns observed near the dam. In winter, inflows have similar densities—Δρ/ρ0 ≈ O(10-5)—and their spatial distribution is largely determined by inertial forces, and in particular, by the discharge ratio. Downstream of the confluence, both rivers flow side by side and largely unmixed over long distances. In summer, with Δρ/ρ0 of O(10-3), the flow fields at the confluence are largely controlled by buoyancy forces. Atmospheric forcing during strong wind events and centrifugal forces caused by the meandering shape of the reservoir induce significant tilting of the isotherms, leading to localized high mixing rates. Mixing, in general, though is weak at this time of the year. In fall and early winter, density differences are largely controlled by conductivity differences between the incoming flows. The warmer Ebro water, with larger thermal inertia, flows beneath the colder Segre water. The spatial arrangement of the inflows is largely controlled by the discharge ratio and mixing between sources is strong, likely as a result of mixed water being denser than either of the incoming flows.

A detailed record of channel profiles, slopes, and stream discharge on Lillooet River provides an opportunity to study the effects of natural and artificial channel changes that have occurred over the past century. We analyze the long-term effects of channel alterations that may affect flood hazard. In the mid 1940s several meanders were artificially severed, side channels blocked off, and the level of downstream Lillooet Lake was lowered. These measures were thought to increase hydrologic efficiency and decrease flood risk in the largely agricultural valley. Between 1947 and 1994 average channel width in the upper reaches decreased by 50%, most of which occurred by the late 1950s. Between 1945 and 1969 Lillooet River degraded its bed elevation by 3-4 m (12.5 to 16.7 cm a- 1) in the upper reaches and up to 2 m (8.3 cm a- 1) in the lower reaches. This sudden and profound degradation compares to average bed elevation increases of 2.4 cm a- 1 prior to the engineering works. Between 1969 and 1985 the cross section area increased by 22% in the upper reaches and 13% in the lower reaches and decreased to 12% and 8%, respectively, for the time period 1985 to 2000. The increased sediment supply that was caused by channel straightening accelerated delta advance in Lillooet Lake from 7 m a- 1 (1858 to 1948) to 30 m a- 1 for the five-year period following the 1948 channel works. These rates have decreased over time, but with a current advance rate of 10.5 m a- 1 (1986-2009) are still above the long-term average prior to the channel changes. This study demonstrates the time scale, direction, and magnitude of channel changes following significant artificial river alterations. While the initial goal of decreasing flood risk had been achieved in the short term, the lower river apparently is slowly returning to an overall aggradational phase. Ongoing delta advance will ultimately increase channel elevations in the lower reaches and lead to significant flood hazards for populated

What does Einstein have to do with subduction? Good question. Peaceful Lake Budi, lying at the heart of an Indian reservation in the Deep South of Chile, had subsided by two meters in the 1960 mega-thrust earthquake. This unique South American salt lake was hiding an awful secret: it was actually an oxbow, not a lake. But Einstein had realized in 1926 that meanders are natural freaks. Rivers will not flow uphill, yet - he claimed - they don't flow down the path of steepest descent either. This anomaly was put at the doorstep of a weak Coriolis Force. Thus Einstein problematized the dilemma of the earth sciences. How can a non-force produce margin-parallel compression in a convergent margin where extension is expected? In fact, where does the energy for meander formation come from? Good question . . . Even Wikipedia knows that Coriolis is not a “force” but an “effect”. So is the obliquity of plate convergence in subduction. Where did Einstein err, and where was he a pioneer? Coastal ablation plus alternating subsidence and emergence in giant earthquakes may yield an answer. Einstein, A. (1926). Die Ursache der Maeanderbildung der Flusslaeufe und das sogenannte Baersche Gesetz, Naturwissenschaften, 14, fascicle II.

This study aims to evaluate the potential of magnetic methods to determine the composition of the sediment load in a cross section of an unmanaged meander in the upstream stretch of the Seine River (Marnay-sur-Seine). Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was collected based on a regular sampling scheme along a cross section of the river, at two different depth levels: during a low-water stage (May 2014) and a high-water stage (February 2015). Riverbed sediments (RBS) were collected during the low-water stage and supplementary samples were taken from the outer and inner banks. Magnetic properties of the dry bulk SPM and sieved RBS and bank sediments were analysed. After characterizing the main magnetic carrier as magnetite, hysteresis parameters were measured, giving access to the grain size and the concentration of these magnetite particles. The results combined with sedimentary grain size data were compared to the three-dimensional velocity profile of the river flow. In the RBS where the magnetic grain size is rather uniform, the concentration of magnetite is inversely proportional to the mean grain size of the total sediment indicating that magnetite is strongly associated with the fine sedimentary fraction. The same pattern is observed in the samples from the outer and inner banks. During the low-water stage, the uniformly fine SPM grain size distribution characterizes the wash load. The magnetic fraction is also relatively fine (within the pseudo single domain range) with concentration similar to that of the fine RBS fraction. During the high-water stage, SPM samples correspond to mixtures of wash load and resuspended sediment from the bedload and riverbanks. Here, the grain size distribution is heterogeneous across the section showing coarser particles compared to those in the low-water stage and more varying magnetite concentrations while the magnetic grain size is like that of the low-water stage. The magnetite concentration in the high-water SPM can be

Physically based rivermeandermigration models have grown in popularity and complexity since the pioneering work of Ikeda, Parker, and Saswe in 1981. Numerical meander models have proven valuable for understanding rivermeander dynamics by providing highly resolved temporal and spatial series of physiographic and morphodynamic properties that are difficult or impossible to observe from real meanderingrivers. Analyses of such model outputs typically focus on either reachwide (e.g. sinuosity) or pointwise (e.g. local migration rates) measures. We propose here a framework that bridges the gap between holistic and reductionist approaches to rivermeandering. This research introduces a new method for identifying and tracking individual meanders ('atoms') from cutoff to inception. An atom is a river reach that evolves in time and eventually intersects itself to become an oxbow lake. Typically individual meander extractions use inflection points to demarcate meander end-points, but automated inflection detection is susceptible to spurious flexes along the centerline. We propose a different approach based on tracking cutoff nodes backwards in time thereby avoiding detection problems and making an atom's dynamics easily accessible. A classification scheme is developed that separates extracted atoms into three types of increasing complexity. Type I atoms are simple, single-loop meander bends; type II atoms contain complex, single-loop bends; and type III atoms consist of compound or multiple meanders. The distinct dynamic behavior of each atom type is explored through individual and ensemble dynamics, e.g. average growth rate, average migration rate, or statistics of local curvature series. Analyses reveal new insights that relate process and form and explore the effect of local versus non-local influences on meander growth. The utilized rivermigration model represents the most basic physical processes that drive rivermigration--i.e., channel cutoff and channel migration

A sediment particle traversing the fluvial system may spend the majority of the total transit time at rest, stored in various sedimentary deposits. Floodplains are among the most important of these deposits, with the potential to store large amounts of sediment for long periods of time. The virtual velocity of a sediment grain depends strongly on the amount of time spent in storage, but little is known about sediment storage times. Measurements of floodplain vegetation age have suggested that storage times are exponentially distributed, a case that arises when all the sediment on a floodplain is equally vulnerable to erosion in a given interval. This assumption has been incorporated into sediment routing models, despite some evidence that younger sediment is more likely to be eroded from floodplains than older sediment. We investigate the relationship between sediment age and erosion, which we term the “erosion hazard,” with a model of a meanderingriver that constructs its floodplain by lateral accretion. We find that the erosion hazard decreases with sediment age, leading to a storage time distribution that is not exponential. We propose an alternate model that requires that channel motion is approximately diffusive and results in a heavy tailed distribution of storage time. The model applies to timescales over which the direction of channel motion is uncorrelated. We speculate that the lower end of this range of time is set by the meander cutoff timescale and the upper end is set by processes that limit the width of the meander belt.

In this paper we try to put away current Global Tectonic Model to look the tectonic evolution of the earth from new point of view. Our new dynamic model is based on study of rivermeandering (RM) which infer new concept as Earth meandering(EM). In a universal gravitational field if we consider a clockwise spiral galaxy model rotate above Ninety East Ridge (geotectonic axis GA), this system with applying torsion field (likes geomagnetic field) in side direction from Rocky Mt. (west geotectonic pole WGP) to Tibetan plateau TP (east geotectonic pole EGP),it seems that pulled mass from WGP and pushed it in EGP due to it's rolling dynamics. According to this idea we see in topographic map that North America and Green land like a tongue pulled from Pacific mouth toward TP. Actually this system rolled or meander the earth over itself fractaly from small scale to big scale and what we see in the rivermeandering and Earth meandering are two faces of one coin. River transport water and sediments from high elevation to lower elevation and also in EM, mass transport from high altitude-Rocky Mt. to lower altitude Himalaya Mt. along 'S' shape geodetic line-optimum path which connect points from high altitude to lower altitude as kind of Euler Elastica(EE). These curves are responsible for mass spreading (source) and mass concentration (sink). In this regard, tiltness of earth spin axis plays an important role, 'S' are part of sigmoidal shape which formed due to intersection of Earth rolling with the Earth glob and actual feature of transform fault and rivermeandering. Longitudinal profile in mature rivers as a part of 'S' curve also is a kind of EE. 'S' which bound the whole earth is named S-1(S order 1) and cube corresponding to this which represent Earth fracturing in global scale named C-1(cube order 1 or side vergence cube SVC), C-1 is a biggest cycle of spiral polygon, so it is not completely closed and it has separation about diameter of C-7. Inside SVC we introduce cone

In the present study we propose a one-dimensional model for the prediction of the large-time evolution of rivermeanders (pre-cutoff conditions) characterized by gravel bed and negligible suspended load. Due to its relatively simple structure, it may be a fast and easy tool to forecast the time evolution of a bend when the symptoms of an incipient instability suggest quantifying the time left for river exploitation as a naturalistic or a commercial resource and timely planning, if needed, the site management and restoration. Most of the previous research on meanderingrivers focused on linearized theories that apply to very small bend amplitudes and very large radii of curvature. The dynamics of meander growth and cutoff was typically afforded by case-sensitive numerical simulations or by descriptive methods aimed at deriving purely empirical laws relating the hydraulics to some geomorphological parameters. The present approach combines the immediacy of a general analytical model with the accuracy of a fluid-mechanical background. The model focuses on energetic principles and interprets the mechanism of meander cutoff as the achievement of limit conditions in terms of river stream power. The corresponding analytical solution, which consists in a 1-D deterministic integro-differential equation governing the meander pre-cutoff phase, accounts for the influence of the morphological and sedimentological parameters by the downstream migration rate and the radius of the meander osculating circle. The results, expressed in terms of instable meander lifetime, are in good agreement with the data obtained from a number of field surveys documented in literature. Additionally, the proposed fluid-mechanical model allows identifying the physical mechanisms responsible for some peculiarities of large-time meander evolution like the decreasing skewness and asymmetry.

The South River, Virginia, a sinuous, gravel-bedded river influenced by frequent bedrock exposures, appears at first glance to be meandering. However, when its planform statistics are compared to a freely meanderingriver (the Teklanika River, Alaska), systematic differences become apparent. Bends of the South River have shorter lengths, longer radii of curvatures, a distinctive meander wavelength spectrum, and a lower fractal dimension of D = 1.11 than those of the Teklanika River. Sixty five percent of the length of South River in the study area consists of sections with exposed bedrock (either on the bed or the banks) and islands. Alluvial floodplains of varying lengths are scattered between sections of bedrock and islands, accounting for the remaining 35% of the study reach. In these areas, the South River displays sinuosity values that may be as high as 2.5. Within the alluvial reaches, aerial photographs from 1937 and 2005 document significant channel migration. Driven by the need to quantify the flux of mercury-contaminated sediments entering the river through bank erosion, we applied the bend migration model of Johannesson and Parker (1989). The model, when schematized for hydraulics of the alluvial sections of the South River and calibrated to the total area of erosion mapped from aerial photographs, correctly predicts 45% of the observed locations of erosion as mapped from the aerial photographs and observed in the field. The total area of erosion computed using the predicted near-bank excess velocity is within 14% of that mapped. According to a non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, the predicted areas of erosion along the river are not significantly different from those defined by the historical aerial photographs (P >= 0.05, two tailed test). These results suggest that curvature dependent hydraulic models for alluvial rivers may provide useful predictions of total erosion of alluvium on mixed bedrock/alluvial rivers like the South River. However, improved

CFD simulations for a (200 m long) meander loop on the River Asker at Bridport in southern England. CFD models under specific steady (peak) flow conditions were developed using FLUENT, with peak flow discharge estimates obtained from an adjacent gauging station. The geometry of each model was specified using DEMs of the channel created from high-resolution tacheometric surveys of the study reach, with water surface elevation defined using a network of crest gauges spaced at 20 m intervals along the reach. Zero slip boundary conditions were defined at all sidewall nodes and initial flow velocity vectors at all nodes at the upstream inlet were estimated with reference to 3D flow velocity data acquired using Acoustic Doppler Velocimetry (ADV) at this location. Simulated flow fields for the extent of the study reach were then evaluated by comparing simulated and observed surface velocity vectors, the latter being derived from Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), supplemented by ADV data in selected (accessible) locations. Finally, we use the near-bank boundary shear stress data obtained from the CFD models to develop insight into the nature and effectiveness of FE processes within the study reach.

Hydraulic interactions between rivers and floodplains produce off-channel chutes, whose presence can increase the ecological diversity of the valley floor. Detailed studies of the hydrologic exchanges between channels and floodplains are usually conducted in laboratory facilities, and studies documenting chute development are generally limited to qualitative observations. In this study, we use a reconstructed, gravel-bedded, meanderingriver as a laboratory for studying these mechanisms at field scale. Using an integrated field and modeling approach, we quantified the flow exchanges between the river channel and its floodplain during an overbank flood, and identified locations where flow had the capacity to erode floodplain chutes. Hydraulic measurements and modeling indicated high rates of flow exchange between the channel and floodplain, with flow rapidly decelerating as water was decanted from the channel onto the floodplain due to the frictional drag provided by substrate and riparian vegetation. Peak shear stresses were greatest downstream of the maxima in bend curvature, along the concave bank, where terrestrial LiDAR scans indicate initial floodplain chute formation. A second chute has developed across the convex bank of a meander bend, in a location where sediment accretion, point bar development and plant colonization have created divergent flow paths between the main channel and floodplain. In both cases, the off-channel chutes are evolving slowly during infrequent floods due to the coarse nature of the floodplain, though rapid chute formation would be more likely in finer-grained floodplains. The controls on chute formation at these locations include the river curvature, cross-stream position of the high velocity core, erodibility of the floodplain sediment, and the density of riparian vegetation.

Meanderingriversmigrate along the floodplain describing upstream-, laterally, and downstream-valley bend orientations. The prediction of these features is still unresolved, therefore not allowing their direct integration into the river restoration framework. Abad and Garcia (2008a, b) investigated experimentally the implications of bend orientation (upstream- and downstream-valley) on hydrodynamics and bed morphodynamics of periodic asymmetric meandering channels. Downstream-valley bends produce a more coherent secondary flow and higher erosional power near the outer bank. Therefore, downstream oriented bends might migrate much faster than upstream oriented bends. Based on digital information of meandering planform dynamics, spectral analysis (Fast Fourier Transform, FFT) and wavelet analysis are carried out to describe the planform dynamics of meandering channels. Additional relevant parameters and observations based on these metrics (dominant modes along the planform configuration, location of oriented bends along the valley centerline, change of migration rate along the valley, among others) are also discussed in the present work. This work is relevant for river restoration such as the development of design criteria of in-stream structures taking into consideration not only hydraulic and morphologic parameters but also the impact of such structures on stream ecosystem.

This work addresses the signatures embedded in the planform geometry of meanderingrivers consequent to the formation of floodplain heterogeneities as the river bends migrate. Two geomorphic features are specifically considered: scroll bars produced by lateral accretion of point bars at convex banks and oxbow lake fills consequent to neck cutoffs. The sedimentary architecture of these geomorphic units depends on the type and amount of sediment, and controls bank erodibility as the river impinges on them, favoring or contrasting the rivermigration. The geometry of numerically generated planforms obtained for different scenarios of floodplain heterogeneity is compared to that of natural meandering paths. Half meander metrics and spatial distribution of channel curvatures are used to disclose the complexity embedded in meandering geometry. Fourier Analysis, Principal Component Analysis, Singular Spectrum Analysis and Multivariate Singular Spectrum Analysis are used to emphasize the subtle but crucial differences which may emerge between apparently similar configurations. A closer similarity between observed and simulated planforms is attained when fully coupling flow and sediment dynamics (fully-coupled models) and when considering self-formed heterogeneities that are less erodible than the surrounding floodplain.

Actively incising and meandering bedrock rivers are an ubiquitous feature of mountain belts, but the mechanisms leading to their formation and evolution are still poorly understood. Part of the problem lies in our limited ability to quantify in situ the mechanisms governing the dynamics of straight bedrock rivers (tool-cover effects, stochastic sediment supply and discharge effects, roughness effects,...). But the rapid and spatially variable rates of bank erosion in meanders also lead to potentially more complex hillslope-channel interactions than in straight river. Terrestrial laser scanner has the potential to shed new light on these interactions and to capture over large surfaces the impact of individual flood and landsliding events. Given the small changes of surface position that must be detected for even the largest rates of bedrock erosion (~ 5-10 mm/yr) and the 3D geometrical complexity of bedrock meanders, specific survey approaches and post-processing algorithms must be developed. To this end, we started to perform repeated Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) surveys of actively incising meanders in the Rangitikei river (New-Zealand) in 2009. The Rangitikei river is incising weakly consolidated mudstone at an average rate of 5 mm/yr since 15 kyr and has developed a very sinuous meandering pattern with several cut-off bedrock meanders. Lateral undercutting of 100 m high cliffs generates failures of up to hundred of meters. Alluvial material consists of coarse resistant material (D50 ~20 cm) sourced from upstream, and large boulders locally derived from rockfalls. Exposed bedrock is rare on the bed but shows that abrasion, weathering by wetting-drying cycles and plucking are important incision mechanisms. Six TLS surveys were performed at bi-monthly to yearly intervals with a Leica Scanstation 2 in 5 reaches of variable planform curvature. Survey length varies from 300 m to 1200 m and point spacing from ~ 5 mm to 5 cm. Point clouds were co-registered between

Pre-regulation channel sinuosities of the meanderingrivers of the Pannonian Basin are analysed in order to define a mathematical model to estimate the influence of the bankfull discharge and the channel slope on them. As a primary database, data triplets of slope, discharge and sinuosity values were extracted from historical and modern datasets and pre-regulation historical topographic maps. Channel slope values were systematically modified to estimate figures valid before the river regulation works. The bankfull discharges were estimated from the average discharges using a robust yet complex method. The "classical" graphs of Leopold and Wolman (1957), Ackers and Charlton (1970b) and Schumm and Khan (1972) were compiled to a set up a theoretical surface, whose parameters are estimated by the real values of the above database, containing characteristics of the Pannonian Basin rivers. As a result it occurred that there is a two-dimensional function of the bankfull discharges, which provides a good estimation of the most probable sinuosity values of the rivers with the given slope and discharge characteristics. The average RMS error of this estimation is around 15% on this dataset and believed to be the effect of the non-analysed changes in the sediment discharge and size distribution.

At a meander-bend scale, process-form interactions between channel morphology and flow hydraulics generate unique features called geomorphic units, such as pools, sediment bars, and backwater regions. Geomorphic units play an important role as distinct habitats for aquatic species. In this study, we investigate channel morphology and flow structure of an incised meander bend on the lower Brazos River, Texas, to inform aquatic habitat assessment. The bend represents the characteristics of sand-bed and high-amplitude meanderingrivers and contains a localized bank-protection structure along its cutbank. We examine: 1) the spatial characteristics of channel morphology (i.e., geomorphic units); 2) spatial characteristics of flow hydraulics in relation to geomorphic units at low- (Q1), medium- (Q2), and high- (Q3) discharge conditions; and 3) the influence of channel morphology on flow hydraulics within this meander bend. We utilize bathymetric and hydraulic surveys conducted using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and simultaneously collected bed-sediment samples. To characterize channel morphology, we use a digital terrain model (DTM) of the bend that we generate by fusing our bathymetric data and an airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)-derived DTM. We examine flow hydraulics by performing quasi 3-D hydraulic modeling. Results show that channel morphology has a strong influence on the spatial distribution of hydraulic parameters, including water depth, flow velocities, Froude number, and helix strength. At Q1, the emergent mid-channel bar forces flow divergence/convergence and acts as a macro-roughness structure. High flow velocity concentrates in the deeper and narrower sub-channel along the cutbank side. At Q2, the location of the mid-channel bar shifts toward the point bar, forming a new chute sub-channel. Highest flow velocities are still concentrated in the permanent sub-channel along the cutbank, but shift downstream toward the exit

The Pam and Papum River gets originated from the Lesser Himalayan region,passes through the Sub-Himalaya and confluences at an obtuse angle in a prong shape, guided by ENE-WSW, WNW-ESE trending lineaments and join the mighty Brahmaputra River as the Burai River after following more or less as a straigth channel,from the north.It follows NE-SW to NW-SE trending lineaments. These rivers show compressed meandering and take knee-bend turnings on its river flow from north to south. Papum Syncline with its axial trend of ENE-WSW passes through the river channels of these rivers. The Pam River channel shows upright beddings on its left bank, as the Tippi Thrust, in which the Lower Siwaliks thrust upon the Middle and Upper Siwaliks, passes through the river channel had truncated northern flank of the Papum syncline. Structural elements of folding and fault movements disturbed the Pam and Papum River channels, leading to compressed meandering. With the onset of Tippi thrust, the north to southward flowing Pam River changed its course by taking knee bend turning from NW-SE to E-W to ENE- WSW direction following the fault trend. Columns of upright sandstone and pebbly beds protruded have also been observed along the left bank of the Pam River. Structural control of the river channel is also indicated by another set of the protruding sandstone beds observed on the right bank of the Pam River with no extension on the left bank is observed on its confluence with Jote Stream. Papum River also takes N-S to NW-SE channel with an obtuse angle turning guided by Tippi thrust and meets the Pam River in a Y-shaped joining along a 8km long NE-SW trending fault plane. Active tectonic activities uplifted Quaternary deposits of gravels, sand and silt in the study area. Left lateral movement is also evident from the offsetting of the Pam river at its confluence with Jote stream by about 300m. Intense activity of folding and faulting related to the proximal tectonics of the Himalayan foreland

We report on a study motivated by the occurrence of highly sinuous, actively migrating paleochannels on Mars. Highly sinuous, unconfined meanders require small aspect ratios, which in turn require cohesive channel banks. This cohesion is obtained most commonly by vegetation cover coupled with high suspended sediment loading. The dominant role of vegetation in meandering is reflected in the difficulty in creating highly sinuous channels in flume experiment without introduction of vegetation. The occurrence of strongly meandering channels on Mars suggests meanders can develop in the absence of vegetation. The main objective of our study is to understand the processes of meander evolution in non-vegetated surfaces. We have studied two terrestrial sites in which meandering channels form where vegetation is sparse and has little influence on bank erodibility or point-bar deposition, indicating that there must be other mechanisms creating bank cohesion. One mechanism is stabilization of point-bar deposits by mud drapes. The Quinn River in Nevada is a sinuous channel that flows through fine lacustrine sediments on the floor of paleolake Lahontan resulting in the river having both bed and bank composed of sediment containing least 40% silt/clay. In addition to abundant mud, high salt content of the river water encourages flocculation and settling of fine sediment; thus both high clay/silt content and salt work together at the Quinn River to maintain a small aspect ratio. In contrast to the Quinn River, meandering channels on alluvial fans in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile are deposited by flows originating from the foothills of the Andes Mountains where sediments are coarser and more variable in size. Like Quinn River both fine sediments and salts contribute to meandering. The bank cohesion is provided by mudflows or hyperconcentrated flows creating bank drapes as well as extensive overbank levees which harden to adobe-like consistency. The Atacama Desert is rich in

The aim of this study was to describe the floodplain architecture of the Ploučnice River, a naturally meanderingriver in the Czech Republic, using manual drill coring, the element analysis of sediments, and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). The Ploučnice River has received diffuse pollution since the early twentieth century (mainly Pb) followed by a prominent, temporally well-defined pollution pulse from uranium mining in the 1970s and 1980s (mainly U and 226Ra). The pollution created a chemostratigraphic (temporal) framework for overbank fines. We used geographical information systems (GIS) to describe the channel's dynamics and visualise fluvial landforms. We sampled and analysed the finest floodplain sediments in the top 1 to 2 m of the floodplain fill (silty and sandy deposits), and we used ERT to visualise bodies of coarser and deeper strata at depths down to ~ 3 m. Several limits of ERT imaging have been found by a comparison of the resistivity domains with lithological descriptions of the cores: several decimetre-thick strata were not revealed (they are below the spatial resolution of that method), and humidity affected the results that were obtained in the topmost strata. The space for deposition of fluvial sediments in the Ploučnice River is being created by (1) natural lateral shifts in the channel (up to 0.5 m/year); (2) meander loop development and cutoffs at the timescale of decades to centuries and spatial scale of up to ~ 1/4 of the floodplain width; and (3) more substantial reorganisation of the channel structure by avulsions, probably at the timescale of centuries. These processes continuously create space for the deposition of overbank fines on the top of former point bars and in swales and abandoned channels. As a consequence of the speed of the channel shifts, at least 80% of the fine-grained top of the floodplain fill (overbank fines) was reworked over approximately three centuries.

Responses of large regulated rivers to contemporary changes in base level are not well understood. We used field measurements and historical analysis of air photos and topographic maps to identify geomorphic trends of the lower White River, Arkansas, USA, in the 70 years following base-level lowering at its confluence with the Mississippi River and concurrent with flood control by dams. Incision was identified below a knickpoint area upstream of St. Charles, AR, and increases over the lowermost ~90 km of the study site to ~2 m near the confluence with the Mississippi River. Mean bankfull width increased by 30 m (21%) from 1930 to 2010. Bank widening appears to be the result of flow regulation above the incision knickpoint and concomitant with incision below the knickpoint. Hydraulic modeling indicated that geomorphic adjustments likely reduced flooding by 58% during frequent floods in the incised, lowermost floodplain affected by backwater flooding from the Mississippi River and by 22% above the knickpoint area. Dominance of backwater flooding in the incised reach indicates that incision is more important than flood control on the lower White River in altering flooding and also suggests that the Mississippi River may be the dominant control in shaping the lower floodplain. Overall, results highlight the complex geomorphic adjustment in large river-floodplain systems in response to anthropogenic modifications and their implications, including reduced river-floodplain connectivity.

This is a portion of an inverted fluvial channel in the region of Aeolis/Zephyria Plana, at the Martian equator. Channels become inverted when the sediments filling them become more resistant to erosion than the surrounding material. Here, the most likely process leading to hardening of the channel material is chemical cementation by precipitation of minerals. Once the surrounding material erodes, the channel is left standing as a ridge. The series of curvilinear lineations are ancient scroll-bars, which are features typical of rivermeanders (bends) in terrestrial fluvial channels. Scroll-bars are series of ridges that result from the continuous lateral migration of a meander. On Earth, they are more common in mature rivers. The presence of scroll bars suggests that the water flow in this channel may have been sustained for a relatively long time. Measuring characteristics of these scroll-bars and meanders may help to estimate the amount of water that once flowed in this channel, aiding our understanding of the history of water on Mars. The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 29.3 centimeters (11.5 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 88 centimeters (29.6 inches) across are resolved.] North is up. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21551

River channel migration plays an important role in sediment routing, water quality, riverine ecology, and infrastructure risk assessment. Migration rates may change in time and space due to systematic changes in hydrology, sediment supply, vegetation, and/or human land and water management actions. The ability to make detailed measurements of lateral migration over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales has been enhanced from increased availability of historical landscape-scale aerial photography and high-resolution topography (HRT). Despite a surge in the use of historical and contemporary aerial photograph sequences in conjunction with evolving methods to analyze such data for channel change, we found no research considering the biases that may be introduced as a function of the temporal scales of measurement. Unsteady processes (e.g.; sedimentation, channel migration, width changes) exhibit extreme discontinuities over time and space, resulting in distortion when measurements are averaged over longer temporal scales, referred to as `Sadler effects' (Sadler, 1981; Gardner et al., 1987). Using 12 sets of aerial photographs for the Root River (Minnesota), we measure lateral migration over space (110 km) and time (1937-2013) assess whether bias arises from different measurement scales and whether rates shift systematically with increased discharge over time. Results indicate that measurement-scale biases indeed arise from the time elapsed between measurements. We parsed the study reach into three distinct reaches and examine if/how recent increases in river discharge translate into changes in migration rate.

Chute channels develop on meanderingrivers in a wide variety of environments, and in many cases result in bend cutoff and formation of an oxbow lake. During the transition from active meander bend to oxbow lake, the chute channel and original bend create a paired bifurcation-confluence unit. Here, we present field documentation of the evolving flow structure within a recent chute cutoff on the Wabash River, IL-IN, focusing on the bifurcation located on the upstream limb of the original bend. Previous studies indicate that this is the location of greatest sedimentation rates prior to complete plugging of the bend (e.g. Shields & Abt, 1989). We seek to isolate the fundamental processes causing rapid sedimentation in the upstream limb of the bend, using repeated hydroacoustic measurements of bed elevation and three-dimensional flow velocity at several key cross-sections. We also employ differential GPS surveys of channel banklines, analysis of aerial photographs and sampling of sediment on exposed bars at low flow, to aid interpretations of the cross-sectional data. This paper will detail the co-evolution of flow structure and channel morphology at this site and examine the coherent patterns of erosion and deposition responsible for oxbow lake formation. Reference: Shields, FD; Abt, SR (1989). Sediment deposition in cutoff meander bends and implications for effective management. Regulated Rivers: Research & Management 4, 381-396.

paper documents the three-dimensional structure of flow and bed morphology of two developing chute cutoffs on a single meander bend on the lower Wabash River, USA, and relates the flow structure to patterns of morphologic change in the evolving cutoff channels. The upstream end of the cutoff channels is characterized by: (1) a zone of flow velocity reduction/stagnation and bar development in the main channel across from the cutoff entrance, (2) flow separation and bar development along the inner (left) bank of the cutoff channel immediately downstream from the cutoff entrance, and (3) helical motion and outward advection of flow momentum entering the cutoff channel, leading to erosion of the outer (right) bank of the cutoff channel. At the downstream end of the cutoff channels, the major hydrodynamic and morphologic features are: (1) flow stagnation along the bank of the main channel immediately upstream of the cutoff channel mouth, (2) convergence of flows from the cutoff and main channels, (3) helical motion of flow from the cutoff, (4) a zone of reduced velocity along the bank of the main channel immediately downstream from the cutoff channel mouth, and (5) development of a prominent bar complex that penetrates into the main channel and extends from the stagnation zone upstream to downstream of the cutoff mouth. These results provide the basis for a conceptual model of chute-cutoff dynamics in which the upstream and downstream ends of a cutoff channel are treated as a bifurcation and confluence, respectively.

The patterns of depth, velocity, and shear stress that direct a river's morphologic evolution are governed by a balance of forces. Analyzing these forces, associated with pressure gradients, boundary friction, channel curvature, and along- and across-stream changes in fluid momentum driven by bed topography, can yield insight regarding the establishment and maintenance of stable channel forms. This study examined how components of the local force balance changed as a meandering channel evolved from a simple, flat-bedded initial condition to a more complex bar-pool morphology. A numerical flow model, constrained by measurements of velocity and water surface elevation, characterized the flow field for four time periods bracketing two floods. For each time increment, runs were performed for discharges up to bankfull, and individual force balance components were computed from model output. Formation and growth of point bars enhanced topographic steering effects, which were of similar magnitude to the pressure gradient and centrifugal forces. Convective accelerations induced by the bar reduced the cross-stream pressure gradient, intensified flow toward the outer bank, and routed sediment around the upstream end of the bar. Adjustments in the flow field thus served to balance streamwise transport along the inner bank onto the bar and cross-stream transport into the pool. Even in the early stages of bar development, topographically driven spatial gradients in velocity played a significant role in the force balance at flows up to bankfull, altering the orientation of the shear stress and sediment transport to drive bar growth.

Spatial heterogeneities of the erosion-resistance properties of the channel banks and floodplains, such as grain size characteristics and the presence of vegetation and bedrock, can have a substantial influence on river morphodynamics, resulting in complex planform geometries and highly variable rat...

A study by the 2012 Hydrogeology Field Methods class of the University of Texas at Austin implemented multiple approaches to evaluate and characterize local hyporheic zone flow and biogeochemical trends in a highly meandering reach of the of the East Fork of the Jemez River, a fourth order stream in northwestern New Mexico. This section of the Jemez River is strongly meandering and exhibits distinct riffle-pool morphology. The high stream sinuosity creates inter-meander hyporheic flow that is also largely influenced by local groundwater gradients. In this study, dozens of piezometers were used to map the water table and flow vectors were then calculated. Surface water and ground water samples were collected and preserved for later geochemical analysis by ICPMS and HPLC, and unstable parameters and alkalinity were measured on-site. Additionally, information was collected from thermal monitoring of the streambed, stream gauging, and from a series of electrical resistivity surveys forming a network across the site. Hyporheic flow paths are suggested by alternating gaining and losing sections of the stream as determined by stream gauging at multiple locations along the reach. Water table maps and calculated fluxes across the sediment-water interface also indicate hyporheic flow paths. We find variability in the distribution of biogeochemical constituents (oxidation-reduction potential, nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate) along interpreted flow paths which is partly consistent with hyporheic exchange. The variability and heterogeneity of reducing and oxidizing conditions is interpreted to be a result of groundwater-surface water interaction. Two-dimensional mapping of biogeochemical parameters show redox transitions along interpreted flow paths. Further analysis of various measured unstable chemical parameters results in observable trends strongly delineated along these preferential flow paths that are consistent with the direction of groundwater flow and the assumed

Short-term instability in the behaviour of a small, meandering alluvial channel is identified from the relation between sinuosity and either floodplain slope or channel slope within 17 reaches along an 81-kilometre section of the Belle Fourche River in western South Dakota. In reaches 1 to 4 and 11 to 17 the channel is relatively stable and sinuosity varies inversely with channel slope. In reaches 5 to 10, sinuosity is positively related to floodplain slope. Sinuosity increases markedly in reaches 5, 6, and 7 (which are immediately downstream from a discontinuity in the long profile of the floodplain) in association with an increase in floodplain slope. Immediately upstream from the discontinuity, bankfull channel depth and sinuosity decrease and the area of the floodplain reworked by meandermigration between 1939 and 1981 increases, in association with a decrease in floodplain slope. Channel behaviour in reaches 5 to 10 is best explained as a consequence of neotectonic activity, as indicated by changes in elevation recorded along geodetic survey lines that cross lineaments that may delimit the eastern boundary of the Black Hills uplift. Sinuosity acts as a barometer of the effects of neotectonic activity on alluvial channels. Initial indications of channel and floodplain instability due to neotectonic activity may be derived from evidence of anomalously active channel migration, as documented from photographic or topographic sources.

Dam failure increased the bedload supply to Fall River, a sinuous, low gradient, snowmelt-fed stream, by a factor of about 1000. Because this sediment is mobile at nearly all discharges, channel topographys is able to change with stage. In a two-bend study reach with erosion-resistant banks, the relationships between flow and mobile bed material were studied by measuring bedload transport rates, bed and water surface topography, and longitudinal and transverse velocity patterns at 22 cross-sections. Measurements were made at different discharge levels through the 1986 hydrograph. At bankfull discharge, bend cross-sections showed maximum asymmetry. Point-bar platforms were built up to the water surface, and thalwegs were excavated to their greatest depth. Transverse flows included zones of high turbulence that contained bed- and bank-cells in the thalweg regions. Helical flow occurred over the point-bar slope, and outward-only flow occurred over the point-bar platforms. Bedload transport was greatest over the point-bar slope and almost zero through the thalweg. Bedload sorting was continuous through each bend. At intermediate flows, cross-section symmetry increased due to lateral erosion of the point-bar platform. Helical flows occupied a larger portion of individual cross-sections, including the thalweg. In planform, however, the zone of helical flow split into two smaller cells in each bend. The zone of maximum bedload transport had shifted outward from its high flow position due to point-bar progradation towards the concave bank, so that some sediment movement occurred in the thalweg. At low flows, characteristic of autumn and winter, cross-section symmetry was at a maximum. There was additional erosion of the point-bars, but the greatest change was due to thalweg filling. Transverse flows were weak and chaotic for the most part, and bedload transport was more uniformly distributed across the channel than at higher discharges. Sorting was discontinuous and

Meanderingrivers are probably one of the most recognizable geomorphic features on earth. As they meander across alluvial and delta plains, channels migrate laterally and develop point bars, splays, levees and other geomorphic and sedimentary features that compose substantial portions of the fill within many sedimentary basins. These basins can include hydrocarbon producing fields. Therefore, a good understanding of the processes of meandering channels and their associated deposits is critical for exploiting these reservoirs in the subsurface. In the past couple of decades, significant progress has been made in our understanding of the morphodynamics of channel meandering. Basic fluid dynamics and sediment transport (Ikeda and Parker, 1981; Howard, 1992) has shown that many characteristic features of meanderingrivers, such as the meandering wavelength, growth rate and downstream migration rate, can be predicted quantitatively. As a result, a number of variations and improvement of the theory have emerged (e.g., Blondeaux and Seminara, 1985; Parker and Andrews, 1985, 1986; and Sun et al., 2001a, b).The main improvements include the recognition of so called "bar-bend" interactions, where the development of bars on the channel bed and their interactions with the channel bend is recognized as a primary cause for meandering channels to develop greater complexity than the classic goose-neck meander bend shapes, such as compound bend. Recently, Sun and others have shown that the spatial patterns of width variations in meandering channels can be explained by an extrinsic periodic flow variations coupled with the intrinsic bend instability dynamics. In contrast to the significant improvement of our understanding of channel meandering, little work has been done to link the geomorphic features of meandering channels to the geometry and heterogeneity of the deposits they form and ultimately preserves. A computer simulation model based on the work of Sun and others (1996, 2001

Analysis of bend-scale meanderingriver dynamics is a problem of theoretical and practical interest. This work introduces a method for extracting and analyzing the history of individual meander bends from inception until cutoff (called "atoms") by tracking backward through time the set of two cutoff nodes in numerical meandermigration models. Application of this method to a simplified yet physically based model provides access to previously unavailable bend-scale meander dynamics over long times and at high temporal resolutions. We find that before cutoffs, the intrinsic model dynamics invariably simulate a prototypical cutoff atom shape we dub simple. Once perturbations from cutoffs occur, two other archetypal cutoff planform shapes emerge called long and round that are distinguished by a stretching along their long and perpendicular axes, respectively. Three measures of meander migration—growth rate, average migration rate, and centroid migration rate—are introduced to capture the dynamic lives of individual bends and reveal that similar cutoff atom geometries share similar dynamic histories. Specifically, through the lens of the three shape types, simples are seen to have the highest growth and average migration rates, followed by rounds, and finally longs. Using the maximum average migration rate as a metric describing an atom's dynamic past, we show a strong connection between it and two metrics of cutoff geometry. This result suggests both that early formative dynamics may be inferred from static cutoff planforms and that there exists a critical period early in a meander bend's life when its dynamic trajectory is most sensitive to cutoff perturbations. An example of how these results could be applied to Mississippi River oxbow lakes with unknown historic dynamics is shown. The results characterize the underlying model and provide a framework for comparisons against more complex models and observed dynamics.

Meanderingrivers display active communication between bank erosion and bar deposition processes. How does this occur? How does the river select its width? To answer these questions, we implement a model for meandermigration where both bank processes (erosion and deposition) are considered independently. Bank erosion is modeled as erosion of purely noncohesive bank material damped by natural slump block armoring; channel deposition is modeled via flow-retarded vegetal encroachment. Both processes are tied to a slope-dependent channel forming Shields number; banks with near-bank Shields number below this value undergo deposition, and those above it undergo erosion. Channel-forming Shields number must increase with slope, as dictated by available data and model performance. Straight channel modeling shows that a channel arrives at an equilibrium width from any initial condition. For the channel bend, the river always approaches an asymptotic state where width reduces slowly in time and where bank erosion and deposition occur at nearly equal rates. Before this state is reached, however, the river follows a phase-plane trajectory with four possible regimes: (a) both banks erode, (b) both banks deposit, (c) both banks migrate outward, but with a faster depositing bank (bar push), and (d) both banks migrate outward, but with a faster eroding bank (bank pull). The trajectory of migration on the phase plane depends on initial conditions and input parameters controlling the rate of depositional and erosional migration. All input parameters have specific physical meaning, and the potential to be measured in the field.

Our ability to construct predictive numerical models for meanderingrivers is hampered by the inability to create meandering channels in the laboratory where individual variables can be isolated and controlled. Typically, experimental channels braid, straighten, or cease migration once they develop curvature. By using alfalfa sprouts to provide bank strength and fine sediment to attach point bars to the floodplain, we have successfully created and maintained meandering morphology in a laboratory flume. The 6.1 by 17 m flume has a floodplain slope of approximately 0.005 with a sandy bed and banks that scales as a gravel bed river. The alfalfa sprouts slow bank erosion allowing time for the bars to create new floodplain deposits. The sprouts also increase floodplain roughness, armor new bar deposits, and promote deposition of overbank sediment. The fine sediment, a lightweight plastic that scaled as sand, was crucial for blocking chutes formed between the bar and the floodplain, isolating cut-off channels from the main flow, and creating levees. During this 136-hour long experiment, the channel width stabilized as the channel migrated across the floodplain, and the curvature was recreated following cutoffs. Although the sinuosity (about 1.2) was low relative to meandering channels observed in the field, the spacing of bends was within the upper bounds of field examples. Subsequent experiments with higher bank strength had more limited chute development were able to generate a sinuosity of about 1.4. Scaling analysis indicates that the bank migration rates in the lower sinuosity experiment were approximately 10 times faster than migration rates in the field. A particular challenge in these experiments is maintaining a healthy alfalfa crop. After 15-20 hours of flood flows, the alfalfa begins to die off and new emergent bars need to be seeded. It then takes about 7 days for the alfalfa to grow to the size used in these experiments. The 15-20 hours scale to about one

The multi-variable connection between the channel slope, bankfull discharge and sinuosity values were analysed to get a mathematical formula, which describes the responses of the rivers, and gives the probable sinuosity values for every slope and discharge values. Timár (2003) merged two planar diagrams into a quasi 3D graph. One of them displayed how the river pattern changes, according to the slope and bankfull discharge values (Leopold and Wolmann, 1957; Ackers and Charlton, 1971); the other based on flume experiments, and gives a connection between the slope and sinuosity (Schumm and Khan, 1972). The result graph suggests that the slope-sinuosity connection also works along the natural rivers, for every discharge values. The aim of this work was to prove this relation, and describe it numerically. The sinuosity values were calculated along the natural, meanderingriver beds, using historical maps (2nd Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire, from the 19th century). The available slope and discharge values were imported from a database measured after the main river control works, at the beginning of the 20th century (Viczián, 1905). Analysing the reports of the river control works, the natural slope could be computed for every river sections. The mean discharges were also converted to bankfull discharges. Neither long time series, nor cross sectional areas were obtainable, so other method was used to generate the bankfull discharge. After the above mentioned corrections a quadratic polynomial surface was fitted onto these points with least squares regression. The cross section of this surface follows the theoretical slope-sinuosity graph, verifying that the flume experiments and natural rivers behave similarly. The differences between the fitted surface and the original points were caused by other river parameters, which also affect the natural rivers (e.g. the sediment discharge). Furthermore, this graph confirms the connection between the slope and sinuosity

An increased awareness by river managers of the importance of river channel migration to sediment dynamics, habitat complexity and other ecosystem functions has led to an advance in the science and practice of identifying, protecting or restoring specific erodible corridors across which rivers are free to migrate. One current challenge is the application of these watershed-specific goals at the regional planning scales (e.g., the European Water Framework Directive). This study provides a GIS-based spatial analysis of the channel migration rates at the regional-scale. As a case study, 99 reaches were sampled in the French part of the Rhône Basin and nearby tributaries of the Mediterranean Sea (111,300 km(2)). We explored the spatial correlation between the channel migration rate and a set of simple variables (e.g., watershed area, channel slope, stream power, active channel width). We found that the spatial variability of the channel migration rates was primary explained by the gross stream power (R(2) = 0.48) and more surprisingly by the active channel width scaled by the watershed area. The relationship between the absolute migration rate and the gross stream power is generally consistent with the published empirical models for freely meanderingrivers, whereas it is less significant for the multi-thread reaches. The discussion focused on methodological constraints for a regional-scale modelling of the migration rates, and the interpretation of the empirical models. We hypothesize that the active channel width scaled by the watershed area is a surrogate for the sediment supply which may be a more critical factor than the bank resistance for explaining the regional-scale variability of the migration rates.

the channel, whereas the seaward pattern displayed deposition at the outer bends and scour at the inner bends, a pattern which would clearly be planimetrically unstable if the channel walls were erodible. In a second experiment, in the final stage, close to equilibrium, point bars were out of phase with respect to curvature throughout the whole channel. A possible explanation of this striking observation is that asymmetry of an observed pattern must be associated with either flood- or ebb- dominance of the basic flow field: some indication, in this respect, comes from the observation that the bar-pool pattern changed in time with the hydrodynamics as the average bed profile evolved towards equilibrium. A second key to be explored is the very nature of the observed bar-pool pattern, recalling that the relationship of tidal alternate (free) bars to point (forced) bars differs from its fluvial counterpart: tidal free bars are non migrating features at equilibrium (Seminara and Tubino, J Fluid Mech, 2001), bar migration arising from the role of overtides (Garotta et al, Phys. of Fluids, 2006). Distinguishing free from forced bars is then harder than in the fluvial case and the issue of their possible coexistence needs be revisited. Finally, the plan form evolution of tidal meanders is typically slower than in the fluvial case: not surprisingly, as sediment transport is very weak close to channel equilibrium.

Enhanced stratigraphic interpretations are possible when linkages between morphodynamic processes and the depositional record are resolved. Recent studies of modern and ancient meander-belt deposits have emphasized morphodynamic processes that are commonly understated in the analysis of stratigraphic products, such as intra-point bar erosion and rotation, counter-point-bar (concave bank-bench) development and meander-bend abandonment. On a larger scale, longitudinal changes in meander-belt morphology and processes such as changes in meander-bend migration rate, channel-belt width/depth ratio and sinuosity have been observed as rivers flow through the tidal backwater zone. However, few studies have attempted to recognize the impact of the backwater zone in the stratigraphic record. We consider ancient meander-belt deposits of the Cretaceous McMurray Formation and document linkages between morphodynamic processes and their stratigraphic product to resolve more detailed paleoenvironmental interpretations. The ancient meander belt was characterized by paleochannels that were 600 m wide and up to 50 m deep, resolved in a particularly high quality subsurface dataset consisting of 600 km2 of high-quality 3-D seismic data and over 1000 wellbores. A 3-D geocellular model and reconstructed paleochannel migration patterns reveal the evolutionary history of seventeen individual meander belt elements, including point bars, counter point bars and their associated abandoned channel fills. At the meander-bend scale, intra-point-bar erosion surfaces bound accretion packages characterized by unique accretion directions, internal stratigraphic architecture and lithologic properties. Erosion surfaces and punctuated bar rotation are linked to upstream changes in channel planform geometry (meander cut-offs). We provide evidence for downstream translation and development of counter-point bars that formed in response to valley-edge and intra-meander-belt confinement. At the meander

Artificial meander straightening (rectification) was conducted in the early 1960s along the Sainte-Marguerite River, Canada, in order to facilitate highway construction along the valley. Previous studies [Talbot and Lapointe, 2002] confirm that vertical reprofiling, coupled with pavement coarsening in the degrading reach, were the main responses counteracting the disequilibrium in gravel transport rates triggered at rectification of this system. Numerical simulations, using SEDROUT2.0, a one-dimensional hydraulic and sediment transport model, and validated against the observed channel response, show the important role played by an advancing wave of pavement coarsening down the rectified reach in modulating the bed degradation response. Simulations extending into the future reveal an asymptotically slowing approach to equilibrium in the middle of the 21st century, with a response half-time of the order of 10 years. In near-threshold gravel bed systems like the Sainte-Marguerite River, pavement coarsening after rectification buffers the system against extreme degradation. Most significantly for watershed management, this also appears to severely limit the extent of propagation of degradation upstream of the rectification.

The Beni river drains a catchment area of 282 000 km2 of which 40 percent are located in the Cordillera of the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes, and the rest in the Amazonian plain : the studied reaches runs from Guanay (Andean Piedmont) to Riberalta (junction with Madre de Dios river) that represents a distance by the river of 1055 km. The Napo river starts in the Ecuadorian Andes and leaves Ecuador in Nuevo Rocafuerte (27 400 km2) and enters in Peru until its junction with the Amazon river : the studied section runs from Misahualli (Andean Piedmont) to this junction, that represents a distance by the river of 995 km. The GPS data were acquired using a mobile GPS embarked on a boat and 4 fixed bases located along the Beni river, 6 along the Napo river and the two rivers profile calculated from post-treated differential GPS solutions. For the Beni river, two sectors were identified: - the upstream sector (~230 km) between Guanay (414 m) and 50 km downstream Rurrenabaque (245 m) is located in Andean Piedmont, which consists in a series of thrusts associated with anticlines and synclines (the subandean zone), and presents slope values range between 135 cm/km and 10 cm/km and an average index of sinuosity (IS) of 1.29, - the downstream sector (~ 820 km) which runs in Amazonian plain (until Riberalta -165 m-), is characterized by an average slope of 8 cm/km and an average IS of 2.06 (this sector is much more homogeneous and the Beni river shows a meandering channel). For the Napo River, three sectors were identified: - the first sector (~140 km) between Misahualli (401 m) and Coca (265 m), is located in Andean Piedmont (subandean zone) and presents slope values range between 170 cm/km and 30 cm/km and an average IS of 1.6, - the second sector (~250 km) between Coca (when the Napo river enters in the Amazonian plain) and Nuevo Rocafuerte (190 m), presents slope values range between 30 cm/km and 20 cm/km and an average IS of 1.2, and a convex-up shape profile corresponding to

Fluvial sediments in the Chłapowo cliff section were studied in order to reconstruct their palaeoflow conditions and stratigraphical position. Lithofacies, textural and palaeohydraulic analyses as well as luminescence dating were performed so as to achieve the aim of study. Sedimentary successions were identified as a record of point bar cycles. The fluvial environment probably functioned during the latest Saalian, shortly after the retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet. Discharge outflow was directed to the northwest. The river used the older fluvioglacial valley and probably was directly connected to the Eem Sea. Good preservation and strong aggradation of point-bar cycles were related to a rapid relative base level rise. The meanderingriver sediments recognised showed responses to climate and sea level changes as illustrated by stratigraphical, morphological and sedimentological features of the strata described. The present study also revealed several insights into proper interpretation of meandering fluvial successions, in which the most important were: specific lithofacies assemblage of GSt (St, Sp) → Sl → SFrc → Fm (SFr) and related architectural elements: channel/sandy bedforms CH/SB → lateral accretion deposits LA → floodplain fines with crevasse splays FF (CS); upward-fining grain size and decreasing content of denser heavy minerals; estimated low-energy flow regime with a mean depth of 1.6-3.3 m, a Froude number of 0.2-0.4 and a sinuosity of 1.5.

Improved characterization of 1) streambed hydraulic conductivity and 2) near-bed and subsurface water temperatures allows better understanding of the spatial patterns of groundwater-surface water exchange in rivers. We measured the effects of a large-scale flow experiment on groundwater-surface water exchange and temperature using fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS), measured temperature in the shallow hyporheic zone (46 cm), and measured streambed saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) over the length of three rivermeander bends (2 km). Measured channel bed elevation, flow depth, velocity, and bed-material grain size were used to develop a two-dimensional numerical model of the flow field as boundary conditions for a model of the hyporheic flow field. We deployed 2 km of fiber-optic cable directly on top of the riverbed over three pool-riffle sequences each with a different degree of bed mobility. DTS data were collected every 2 m for 32 days (1.5 days at 10 cms, 10 days at 20 cms, 16 days at 10 cms, and 4.5 days at 2-4 cms). Three installations of six hyporheic zone sensors, located near the upstream and downstream ends of the DTS cable, recorded interstitial pore water temperature at depths of 46 cm. During flows of 10 cms, we measured Ksat in the streambed at depths of 60 cm using a groundwater standpipe and backpack permeameter over the length of two meander bends. DTS results showed relatively uniform temperature over the 2-km reach during the initial flow of 10 cms. Near-bed temperatures averaged 15.6°C while pore water temperatures averaged 15.4°C. The 20 cms flow decreased near-bed temperatures to 14.9°C and pore water temperatures averaged 14.7°C. However, during the 20 cms flow, the bed became mobile causing local scour and deposition at three locations and buried the DTS cable with gravel/sand up to 26 cm deep. Our DTS results allowed us to record the transition from near-bed temperatures to shallow subsurface temperatures during a

In the pioneering study of the Ishikari River, Japan, Kinoshita (Kinoshita 1957, 1961) described two types of meandering channels: (1) channel with two bars per meander wavelength (one bar per bend), and (2) channel with three or more bars per meander wavelength (multiple bars per bend). Based on th...

The SRS Computing Architecture is a vision statement for site computing which enumerates the strategies which will guide SRS computing efforts for the 1990s. Each strategy is supported by a number of feature statements which clarify the strategy by providing additional detail. Since it is a strategic planning document, the Architecture has sitewide applicability and endorsement but does not attempt to specify implementation details. It does, however, specify that a document will be developed to guide the migration from the current site environment to that envisioned by the new architecture. The goal of this document, the SRS Computing Architecture Migration Guide, is to identify specific strategic and tactical tasks which would have to be completed to fully implement the architectural vision for site computing as well as a recommended sequence and timeframe for addressing these tasks. It takes into account the expected availability of technology, the existing installed base, and interdependencies among architectural components and objectives.

downstream migration of the larger meanders on both rivers. We also observe a pronounced change in the morphology and evolution of the channels in the Brahmaputra braid plain upstream and downstream of the hinge zone with more rapid changes in channel geometry upstream and a more stable configuration of two anastamosing primary channels downstream.

Fishes that swim upstream in rivers to spawn must navigate complex fluvial velocity fields to arrive at their ultimate locations. One hypothesis with substantial implications is that fish traverse pathways that minimize their energy expenditure during migration. Here we present the methodological and theoretical developments necessary to test this and similar hypotheses. First, a cost function is derived for upstream migration that relates work done by a fish to swimming drag. The energetic cost scales with the cube of a fish's relative velocity integrated along its path. By normalizing to the energy requirements of holding a position in the slowest waters at the path's origin, a cost function is derived that depends only on the physical environment and not on specifics of individual fish. Then, as an example, we demonstrate the analysis of a migration pathway of a telemetrically tracked pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) in the Missouri River (USA). The actual pathway cost is lower than 105 random paths through the surveyed reach and is consistent with the optimization hypothesis. The implication—subject to more extensive validation—is that reproductive success in managed rivers could be increased through manipulation of reservoir releases or channel morphology to increase abundance of lower-cost migration pathways.

Fishes that swim upstream in rivers to spawn must navigate complex fluvial velocity fields to arrive at their ultimate locations. One hypothesis with substantial implications is that fish traverse pathways that minimize their energy expenditure during migration. Here we present the methodological and theoretical developments necessary to test this and similar hypotheses. First, a cost function is derived for upstream migration that relates work done by a fish to swimming drag. The energetic cost scales with the cube of a fish's relative velocity integrated along its path. By normalizing to the energy requirements of holding a position in the slowest waters at the path's origin, a cost function is derived that depends only on the physical environment and not on specifics of individual fish. Then, as an example, we demonstrate the analysis of a migration pathway of a telemetrically tracked pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) in the Missouri River (USA). The actual pathway cost is lower than 105 random paths through the surveyed reach and is consistent with the optimization hypothesis. The implication—subject to more extensive validation—is that reproductive success in managed rivers could be increased through manipulation of reservoir releases or channel morphology to increase abundance of lower-cost migration pathways.

Many fish species migrate large distances upstream in rivers to spawn. These migrations require energetic expenditures that are inversely related to fecundity of spawners. Here we present the theory necessary to quantify relative energetic requirements of upstream migration pathways and then test the hypothesis that least-cost paths are taken by the federally endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphyrhyncus Albus), a benthic rheophile, in the lower Missouri River, USA. Total work done by a fish through a migratory path is proportional to the size of the fish, the total drag on the fish, and the distance traversed. Normalizing by the work required to remain stationary at the beginning of a path, relative work expenditure at each point of the path is found to be the cube of the ratio of the velocity along the path to the velocity at the start of the path. This is the velocity of the fish relative to the river flow. A least-cost migratory pathway can be determined from the velocity field in a reach as the path that minimizes a fish's relative work expenditure. We combine location data from pallid sturgeon implanted with telemetric tags and pressure-sensitive data storage tags with depth and velocity data collected with an acoustic Doppler profiler. During spring 2010 individual sturgeon were closely followed as they migrated up the Missouri River to spawn. These show that, within a small margin, pallid sturgeon in the lower Missouri River select least-cost paths as they swim upstream (typical velocities near 1.0 - 1.2 m/s). Within the range of collected data, it is also seen that many alternative paths not selected for migration are two orders of magnitude more energetically expensive (typical velocities near 2.0 - 2.5 m/s). In general these sturgeon migrated along the inner banks of bends avoiding high velocities in the thalweg, crossing the channel where the thalweg crosses in the opposite direction in order to proceed up the inner bank of subsequent bends. Overall, these

For calculation of bed variation in alluvial channels important bed configurations include meso-scale bed configurations, such as alternating bars (pools and riffles) and braided bars. It is important in river management to be able to predict water surface elevation, scour, and fill in alluvial channels under given flow conditions. Mathematical and physical models can be used in designing or planning for improvement of river channels and hydraulic structures. Several studies have been made to evaluate flow and bed variation in meandering channels (Engelund, 1974; Odgaard, 1986; Ikeda et al., 1987; Falcon and Kennedy, 1983; Kishi et al., 1983, Struiksma, 1985, and Struiksma et al., 1985). The bed variation at meandering channels is calculated by the continuity equation for bed load transport. Typical bed configurations and flows with alternating bars and braided bars are produced in straight channels, and thus the formation and migration of bars are predicted quantitatively. The results of model applications were carried out for the same situations as the mathematical model at the Technical University of Berlin, Institute Wasserbau and Wasserwirtschaft (Yilmaz, 1990), started with flat bed, continued until dz/ dt=0. Then the beds were solidified, and precise measurements of the bed configuration and the velocity were performed. Plan geometries of runs consist of a sine-generated curve and an asymmetrical meander loop, respectively. The latter is derived by a Fourier series analysis on several typical bends. The meso-scale bed configuration in alluvial streams is highly dependent on the width-depth ratio of the channel. The velocity measurements were made with small mechanical current meters fixed to a 1m high frame that rested on the bottom while measuring the lower points on the profile. The frame was suspended at different levels above the bottom to collect the data represented by the higher points. Velocity profiles are plotted semi-logarithmically with the dots

Studies of the factors determining migratory patterns in the Senegal River Valley usually stress the importance of economic factors related to colonial domination. But when cultural factors and the social relations governing them are examined in a comparative study of ethnic groups, distinct population subgroups may be revealed to have differential migratory patterns. The Soninka and the Poular, two groups highly affected by migration, were chosen for an analysis of the impact of specific historical experiences on migratory behavior. A historical analysis of colonial archives and anthropological and historical monographs and the 1982-83 "Survey of Migration in the Valley of the Senegal River" provided data. The survey indicated that Soninka and Poular migratory patterns differed from each other, but that both differed from the migratory patterns of all other ethnic groups in the region. Soninka migration is international and oriented primarily toward Europe. It has recently become more intense than that of the poular. The determinants of migration in the two groups appear related more to the structure of households than to lack of educational and health facilities or even of food at the village level. Pastoral life and its associated beliefs and religious ideology appear to have been the principal determinants of precolonial movement among the Poular, while Soninka migration responded more to competition over control of manpower. Itinerant commercial activity was coupled with use of slave labor to ensure food production. But the suppression of slavery and crises of subsistence aggravated by colonial policy provoked ever more distant migration, which found a focus in the French demand for labor after World War II. Migration as an alternative does not appear to have been as significant for the Poular until more recently, when subsistence agriculture and the sale of animals were no longer sufficient to cover monetary needs. Male migration among the Soninka is a

Large-scale river channel migrations either in the form of avulsions or combing, i.e. progressive lateral migrations, are global phenomena during the Late Quaternary. Such channel migrations were triggered by tectonics, climate change, human activity or a combination of those factors. River channel migrations have the potential to cause significant human and economic losses. Thus, a more thorough knowledge about underlying causes and process rates is essential. Furthermore, such studies will elucidate the sensitivity or robustness of rivers to different external and internal forcing-agents, i.e. they help to identify the dominant drivers of regional landscape evolution. The Caucasus region is part of the active collision zone between the Africa-Arabian and the Eurasian plates, and is characterized by high current tectonic activity. Furthermore, significant environmental changes took place during the Late Quaternary, i.e. the shrinking or even disappearance of glaciers in the Greater and Lesser Caucasus or fundamental changes of the vegetation cover varying between woodland and grassland-dominated vegetation. The Kura River is the main gaining stream of the Transcaucasian Depression located between the Greater Caucasus Mountains in the north and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains in the south, and receives several tributaries from both mountain ranges. This study focusses on the middle course of the Kura River in eastern Georgia, SE of the city of Tbilisi. Integration of fluvial geomorphology, geochronology, heavy mineral analyses and seismo-tectonic analyses demonstrates that this part of the Kura River underwent large-scale channel migrations up to >10 km during Late Pleistocene and Holocene. It is interpreted that these movements followed both tectonic and climatic triggers: Whereas SW-ward migrations were caused by tectonic uplift in and SW-directed advance of the Kura fold and thrust belt as part of the Greater Caucasus, NE-ward migrations occurred during cold

The movements of 67 Gulf sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi equipped with radio transmitters were monitored in the Suwannee River, Florida, from March 1989 through August 1992. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the seasonal movement patterns and distribution of Gulf sturgeon while in freshwater, (2) to document relationships between water temperature and Gulf sturgeon movement, and (3) to determine whether springs were used as thermal refugia by these fish. Gulf sturgeon were detected entering the river from mid-February through April; they moved upstream at an average speed of 3.5 km/d to areas where they remained until October or November. Gulf sturgeon moved no more than 0,6 river km (on average) upstream or downstream from their established summer area. Gulf sturgeon began leaving the Suwannee River from mid-September through early November and moved downstream at an average speed of 6.2 km/d; all fish returned to the Gulf of Mexico by early December. Water temperatures associated with spring and fall migrations averaged 22.1 ??C (range, 16.0-28.0??C) and 21.3??C (range, 16.9-26.8??C), respectively. Gulf sturgeon were frequently close to springs throughout the warmest period, but none were located within a spring or the thermal plume emanating from a spring.

We consider a Brownian particle whose motion is confined to a ``meandering'' pathway and which is driven away from thermal equilibrium by an alternating external force. This system exhibits absolute negative mobility, i.e. when an external static force is applied the particle moves in the direction opposite to that force. We reveal the physical mechanism behind this ``donkey-like'' behavior, and derive analytical approximations that are in excellent agreement with numerical results.

Classical models developed for ancient fluvial point bars are based on the assumption that meander bends invariably increase their radius as meander-bend apices migrate in a direction transverse to the channel-belt axis (i.e., meander bend expansion). However, many modern meanderingrivers are also characterized by down-valley migration of the bend apex, a mechanism that takes place without a significant change in meander radius and wavelength. Downstream-migrating fluvial point bars (DMFPB) are the dominant architectural element of these types of meander belts. Yet they are poorly known from ancient fluvial-channel belts, since their disambiguation from expansional point bars often requires fully-3D perspectives. This study aims to review DMFPB deposits spanning in age from Devonian to Holocene, and to discuss their main architectural and sedimentological features from published outcrop, borehole and 3D-seismic datasets. Fluvial successions hosting DMFPB mainly accumulated in low accommodation conditions, where channel belts were affected by different degrees of morphological (e.g., valleys) or tectonic (e.g., axial drainage of shortening basins) confinement. In confined settings, bends migrate downstream along the erosion-resistant valley flanks and little or no floodplain deposits are preserved. Progressive floor aggradation (e.g., valley filling) allow meander belts with DMFPB to decrease their degree of confinement. In less confined settings, meander bends migrate downstream mainly after impinging against older, erosion-resistant channel fill mud. By contrast, tectonic confinement is commonly associated with uplifted alluvial plains that prevented meander-bend expansion, in turn triggering downstream translation. At the scale of individual point bars, translational morphodynamics promote the preservation of downstream-bar deposits, whereas the coarser-grained upstream and central beds are less frequently preserved. However, enhanced preservation of upstream

Morphological features of meandering landforms observed on the surface of Mars are computed and discussed. The relevance of the study pertains potentially useful hypotheses for the understanding of the evolution of Mars. Materials are digital images taken from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimer (MOLA) and from the Viking orbiter. The methods of morphological analysis derive from tool employed in the analysis of channeled landforms, in particular tidal ones, where the unit of information (i.e. the elementary pixel) is considerably smaller than the size of the channels. The results obtained concern the physical characterization of martian meanders, including the evolution in space of widths, wavelengths and curvatures and their spectra. Evidence for a narrow distribution of sinuosities (possibly a proxy of age of erosion/deposition processes carving the meanders) and for tapering of widths (a proxy of landforming flowrates) appears to suggest the past existence on Mars of massive and relatively brief outbursts of flow. The range of duration of such processes might be speculated upon comparison with terrestrial processes.

Modeling of long-term evolution of meander planforms is usually applied to river reaches characterized by a uniform flow perturbed by the effects of the curvature and width distributions. However, in nature meanderingrivers may be characterized by localized variations due to external conditions, e.g. changes in floodplain slope (geologic variation), confluence of a tributary into the main river (hydrologic variation), or backwater effects (hydrodynamic variation). As a consequence, the hypothesis of a sufficiently long reach having constant forcing characteristic could limit the reliability of the numerical simulations. We developed a mathematical extension of a well-known fully coupled two-dimensional morphodynamic model (i.e., the ZS model) able to manage an internally localized boundary condition which affects the characteristic of the main flow. The resulting modular model computes the flow field in the two meandering sub-reaches determined by the presence of a section entailing prescribed changes in external conditions, and simulates the long-term lateral migration above the floodplain surface due to erosion and deposition processes at the banks, and the possible occurrence of neck cutoffs. Calibration runs and simulations based on real test cases show that internal variations in the parameters controlling the flow field might strongly affect the morphodynamic behavior of the migrating planforms. Future research shall provide an extension of this approach in order to manage multiple internal boundary conditions within the investigated river reach. The aim is to relax the common hypothesis of a unique formative uniform flow, exploiting the less restrictive assumption of a sequence of uniform flows to describe the flow field that establishes in the river and controls its morphodynamic behaviour.

Human migration north through Africa is contentious. This paper uses a novel palaeohydrological and hydraulic modelling approach to test the hypothesis that under wetter climates c.100,000 years ago major river systems ran north across the Sahara to the Mediterranean, creating viable migration routes. We confirm that three of these now buried palaeo river systems could have been active at the key time of human migration across the Sahara. Unexpectedly, it is the most western of these three rivers, the Irharhar river, that represents the most likely route for human migration. The Irharhar river flows directly south to north, uniquely linking the mountain areas experiencing monsoon climates at these times to temperate Mediterranean environments where food and resources would have been abundant. The findings have major implications for our understanding of how humans migrated north through Africa, for the first time providing a quantitative perspective on the probabilities that these routes were viable for human habitation at these times. PMID:24040347

Human migration north through Africa is contentious. This paper uses a novel palaeohydrological and hydraulic modelling approach to test the hypothesis that under wetter climates c.100,000 years ago major river systems ran north across the Sahara to the Mediterranean, creating viable migration routes. We confirm that three of these now buried palaeo river systems could have been active at the key time of human migration across the Sahara. Unexpectedly, it is the most western of these three rivers, the Irharhar river, that represents the most likely route for human migration. The Irharhar river flows directly south to north, uniquely linking the mountain areas experiencing monsoon climates at these times to temperate Mediterranean environments where food and resources would have been abundant. The findings have major implications for our understanding of how humans migrated north through Africa, for the first time providing a quantitative perspective on the probabilities that these routes were viable for human habitation at these times.

The Amazon represents the only large river basin in the world where there is a sufficient range of sediment supplies and a lack of engineering controls to assess how sediment supply drives the evolution of meanderingrivers. Despite recent analytical advances (Asahi et al., 2013; Pittaluga and Seminara, 2011), modern theory does not yet identify or explain the effects of externally imposed sediment supplies, a fundamental river characteristic, on meanderingriver evolution. These sediment supplies would be radically reduced by the construction of large dams proposed for the Amazon Basin (Finer and Jenkins, 2012). Here, we demonstrate that the sediment loads imposed by their respective drainage basins determine planform changes in lowland rivers across the Amazon. Our analysis, based on Landsat image sequences, indicates that rivers with high sediment loads draining the Andes and associated foreland basin experience annual migration rates that are on average four times faster than rivers with lower sediment loads draining the Central Amazon Trough and shields. Incidents of meander cutoff also occur more frequently along the rivers of the Andes and foreland basin, where the number of oxbows in the floodplains is more than twice that observed in the floodplains of the Central Amazon Trough and shields. Our results, which cannot be explained by differences in channel slope or hydrology, highlight the importance of sediment supply in modulating the ability of meandering alluvial rivers to reshape the floodplain environment through rivermigration. Asahi, K., Shimizu, Y., Nelson, J., Parker, G., 2013. Numerical simulation of rivermeandering with self-evolving banks. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 118(4), 2013JF002752. Finer, M., Jenkins, C.N., 2012. Proliferation of hydroelectric dams in the Andean Amazon and implications for Andes-Amazon connectivity. PLOS One, 7(4), e35126. Pittaluga, M.B., Seminara, G., 2011. Nonlinearity and unsteadiness in river

Meander evolution of narrowing point bars ultimately forms a straight reach and an associated oxbow lake after meand bend cutoff. Observing the water surface and bed topography change during the meander cutoff process allows scientists and engineers to better understand flow mechanisms in meanderingrivers, predict river behavior following cutoff, and minimize damage to life and property. Theoretical river evolution model indicates that head loss between the upstream and downstream meander neck increases during meander evolution, and this leads to an increasing hydraulic gradient and intensification of the cutoff. Yet no detailed observations are available to support the theory. In this research, we establish a physical model of a meander cutoff in a 1.8 m * 3.7 m laboratory river table using 0.18 mm median diameter sand and river discharge of 100 mL/s. The initial meander is a highly curved meander with a sinuosity of 5.6. Erosion is initiated by stream flow and the meander goes through the cutoff process. Water surface elevation along the river, river bed topography, and groundwater head in the intra-meander zone are precisely measured with an accuracy of up to 0.4 mm using a close range photogrammetry technique and ultrasonic sensors. The measurements are taken every 5 hours before the cutoff, immediately after the cutoff, and 1 hour, 5 hours after the cutoff respectively. Our results show that hydraulic gradient gradually steepens crossing the meander neck before the cutoff. River bed elevation gradients crossing the meander neck are enlarged due to the continuous deposition at the upstream neck and erosion at the downstream neck. However, the river bed elevation differences is counter balanced by the water depth which is smaller at the upstream and larger at the downstream, and the head loss across the neck remains nearly the same during cutoff. Immediately after the meander cutoff, a cascade emerges, and then rapidly dissipates into the new channel during

Meanderingriver planforms are easily observable features in the landscape, but the processes shaping them, act on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. This results in meanders that curve at several spatial scales with smaller scale curves embedded in larger scale curves. Here, we show how to quantify the multi-scale structure of meanders from the valley scale until the sub-meander scale based on continuous wavelet transforms of the planform curvature. The zero crossings and maximum lines of the wavelet transform capture the main characteristics of the meander shape and their structure is quantified in a scale-space tree. The tree is used to identify meander wavelength and how meanders are embedded in larger scale features. The submeander structure determines meander shape, which is quantified with two parameters: skewness and fattening. The method is applied to the Mahakam River planform, which features very sharp, angular bends. Strong negative fattening is found for this river which corresponds to angular non-harmonic meanders which are characterized by strong flow recirculation and deep scouring.

Due to recent advances in hydroacoustic technology, such as the development of multibeam echo sounders, it is now possible to obtain highly accurate and detailed bathymetric data for river channels. These data provide the basis for detailed characterizations of bed form morphology ranging from individual ripples to composite dune fields. Theoretical models suggest that bed forms reach an equilibrium morphology based on hydraulic conditions during steady flow. However, at the scale of individual meander bends, bed form morphology will vary according to the local flow structure as influenced by overall bed morphology and planform curvature. Thus, the coevolution of flow structure, bed form morphology, and sediment transport should vary throughout a meander bend. This paper examines spatial variation in bed form characteristics and rates of bed form migration, and thus bed material transport, within a large, actively migrating, elongate meander loop. During a May 2013 flood event on Maier Bend, Wabash River (IL-IN, USA), repeat multibeam echo sounding surveys were conducted ~4 hours apart, providing estimates of dune celerity and volumetric rates of sediment transport at different locations around the bend. Three-dimensional velocity measurements, obtained using an acoustic Doppler current profiler, provide hydraulic data for evaluating interactions between flow structure and bed form morphology. Results show that bed form morphology is highly variable within the bend, ranging from barchans dunes on the upstream limb, 2D ripples across the point bar, and 3D composite dunes with wavelength of ~20 meters near the bend apex. Rates of dune celerity varied from 0.3 m/hr to 0.7 m/hr and were dependent on bed form geometry and local hydraulic conditions. The high-resolution data on flow and form are used to calibrate a 2D numerical model of sediment transport through the bend. Simulations using the calibrated model are used to evaluate the fluvial processes underlying

Although the dynamics of meanderingrivers have been the focus of considerable research, few studies have examined the three-dimensional flow structure and bed morphology within elongate loops of large meandering channels. The present study focuses on the spatial patterns of three-dimensional flow s...

Meandermigration rates and patterns are a function of the forces exerted by the flowing water on the streambanks and the resistance to erosion of the bank soils. Past analytical studies of planform development have mostly focused on the complexity of the governing equations, i.e. hydrodynamics, and...

The central portion of this image features a mildly-winding depression that was carved by water, likely around four billion years ago shortly after the Hellas basin formed following a giant asteroid or comet impact. Water would have flowed from the uplands (to the east) and drained into the low-lying basin, carving river channels as it flowed. The gentle curves-called "meanders" by geomorphologists-imply that this paleoriver carried lots of sediment along with it, depositing it into Hellas. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20815

Seaward of most submarine canyons there are large sediment fans comparable to the fans at the base of mountain ranges. Many of the submarine fans are cut by valleys called fan-valleys which usually connect with the mouths of submarine canyons. Loop-like bends or meanders characterize the channels of rivers in their lower flood plains, but have never been found in the shallow channels that cross the alluvial fans at the base of mountain canyons. Therefore, it was surprising to find that the channel in a very deep submarine fan-valley off Monterey Bay, California, has a tight meander.

Despite years of study questions remain about the factors determining stream patterns (e.g., braided versus meandering) and spatial patterns of floodplain deposition. Highly sinuous, unconfined meanders require small channel width to average depth ratios, which in turn require cohesive channel banks. On Earth, this cohesion is obtained most commonly by clay-rich sediment and vegetation cover. Roots can physically hold sediments intact and also retain moisture in the root zone, allowing minerals to weather to clay. Dense plant cover also encourages suspended (i.e., clay-rich) sediment deposition. However, the recent discovery of highly sinuous Martian meandering channels raises the question of how meandering can occur in the absence of vegetation. Quinn River located in the east branch of the Black Rock Desert, Nevada is a sinuous channel that flows through lacustrine sediments on the floor of paleolake Lahontan where vegetation cover is sparse. Lake and channel sediment samples, cross-sectional profiles, and various measurements of material strength (e.g., shear vane strength) were collected to characterize the Quinn River channel banks and bed. Similar data were also collected from two heavily vegetated, more classic meandering channels (the Humboldt River, also near Winnemucca, Nevada, and a tidal creek in Virginia) for comparison. Preliminary assessments of the samples indicate that Quinn river banks are more cohesive than those of the Humboldt River. They consist of finer sediments (mostly clay/silt to very fine sand) relative to the Humboldt River (ranging up to gravel size sediments in the point bar deposits). And they have a higher Atterberg Plasticity Index overall. Samples collected from the Quinn River bed and banks also effervesce in dilute hydrochloric acid. The concentration of chemical cements in bank samples and their role in providing cohesion are being evaluated. Highly sinuous channels on Mars show that meandering channels can occur without

One reaction of rivers toward allogenic triggers is the large-scale river channel migration in the form of avulsions or progressive lateral migrations (combing) that are widespread phenomena around the world during the late Quaternary. Because they potentially cause significant human and economic losses and significantly change geomorphic processes in the affected regions, a deeper knowledge about causes and rates is essential and furthermore helps to identify the dominant drivers of regional landscape evolution during different periods. One possible cause for river channel migrations is sediment-flux steering, i.e. the shift of rivers in sedimentary basins against a tectonically driven trend caused by transverse sediment discharge. During the last 30 years, sediment-flux steering has been investigated by field and experimental studies in extensional half-grabens with generally small-sized transverse catchments and/or volcaniclastic sedimentation. This study presents geomorphologic, geochronologic, and heavy mineral analyses together with complementary tectonomorphometric and earthquake data to investigate late Quaternary channel migrations of the Kura River in the southern foreland basin of the Greater Caucasus, a region where the late Quaternary landscape evolution is rather fragmentarily understood so far. Special emphasis of this study is given to the interplay between axial river flow and transverse sediment supply leading to sediment-flux steering. Large-scale migrations of the course of the Kura River during the late Quaternary reflect the interplay between tectonic processes leading to the southwestward advance of the Kura Fold-and-Thrust-Belt and climatically-triggered sediment-flux steering caused by aggradation phases of transverse rivers with comparatively large catchment areas in the Lesser Caucasus. During generally warmer periods such as the Holocene with fluvial incision and low sediment supply from the transverse rivers, the main Kura River could

Efforts are currently underway to increase the capacity of airports by use of closely-spaced parallel runways. If such an objective is to be achieved safely and efficiently during both visual and instrument flight conditions, it will be necessary to develop more precise methods for the prediction of the motion and spread of the hazard posed by the lift-generated vortex-wakes of aircraft, and their uncertainties. The purpose of the present study is to relate the motion induced in vortex filaments by turbulence in the ambient flow field to the measured turbulence in the flow field. The problem came about when observations made in the two largest NASA wind tunnels indicated that extended exposure of vortex wakes to the turbulence in the wind tunnel air stream causes the centers of the vortices to meander about with time at a given downstream station where wake measurements are being made. Although such a behavior was expected, the turbulence level based on the maximum amplitude of meander was much less than the root-mean-squared value measured in the free-stream of the wind tunnel by use of hot-film anemometers. An analysis of the time-dependent motion of segments of vortex filaments as they interact with an eddy, indicates that the inertia of the filaments retards their motion enough in the early part of their travel to account for a large part of the difference in the two determinations of turbulence level. Migration of vortex filaments from one turbulent eddy to another (probably with a different orientation), is believed to account for the remainder of the difference. Methods that may possibly be developed for use in the measurement of the magnitude of the more intense eddies in turbulent flow fields and how they should be adjusted to predict vortex meander are then discussed.

The route and timing of Homo sapiens exiting Africa remains uncertain. Corridors leading out of Africa through the Sahara, the Nile Valley, and the Red Sea coast have been proposed as migration routes for anatomically modern humans 80,000-130,000 years ago. During this time climate conditions in the Sahara were wetter than present day, and monsoon rainfall fed rivers that flowed across the desert landscape. The location and timing of these rivers may have supported human migration northward from central Africa to the Mediterranean coast, and onwards to Europe or Asia. Here, we use palaeoclimate rainfall and a hydrological model to spatially simulate and quantitatively test the existence of three major rivers crossing the Sahara from south to north during the time of human migration. We provide evidence that, given realistic underlying climatology, the well-known Sahabi and Kufrah rivers very likely flowed across modern day Libya and reached the coast. More unexpectedly an additional river crossed the core of the Sahara through Algeria (Irharhar river) and flowed into the Chotts basin. The Irharhar river is unique, because it links locations in central Africa experiencing monsoon climates with temperate coastal Mediterranean environments where food and resources were likely abundant. From an ecological perspective, this little-known corridor may prove to be the most parsimonious migration route. Support for the Irharar as a viable migration corridor is provided by its geographic proximity to middle Stone Age archaeological artefacts found in North Africa. Our new, highly novel approach provides the first quantitative analysis of the likelihood that rivers occurred during the critical period of human migration out of Africa. Simulated probability of surface water in North Africa during the last interglacial and the location of tools and ornaments from the Middle Stone Age.

The mortality of salmon smolts during their migration out of freshwater and into the ocean has been difficult to measure. In the Columbia River, which has an extensive network of hydroelectric dams, the decline in abundance of adult salmon returning from the ocean since the late 1970s has been ascribed in large measure to the presence of the dams, although the completion of the hydropower system occurred at the same time as large-scale shifts in ocean climate, as measured by climate indices such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We measured the survival of salmon smolts during their migration to sea using elements of the large-scale acoustic telemetry system, the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array. Survival measurements using acoustic tags were comparable to those obtained independently using the Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag system, which is operational at Columbia and Snake River dams. Because the technology underlying the POST array works in both freshwater and the ocean, it is therefore possible to extend the measurement of survival to large rivers lacking dams, such as the Fraser, and to also extend the measurement of survival to the lower Columbia River and estuary, where there are no dams. Of particular note, survival during the downstream migration of at least some endangered Columbia and Snake River Chinook and steelhead stocks appears to be as high or higher than that of the same species migrating out of the Fraser River in Canada, which lacks dams. Equally surprising, smolt survival during migration through the hydrosystem, when scaled by either the time or distance migrated, is higher than in the lower Columbia River and estuary where dams are absent. Our results raise important questions regarding the factors that are preventing the recovery of salmon stocks in the Columbia and the future health of stocks in the Fraser River.

The mortality of salmon smolts during their migration out of freshwater and into the ocean has been difficult to measure. In the Columbia River, which has an extensive network of hydroelectric dams, the decline in abundance of adult salmon returning from the ocean since the late 1970s has been ascribed in large measure to the presence of the dams, although the completion of the hydropower system occurred at the same time as large-scale shifts in ocean climate, as measured by climate indices such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We measured the survival of salmon smolts during their migration to sea using elements of the large-scale acoustic telemetry system, the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array. Survival measurements using acoustic tags were comparable to those obtained independently using the Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag system, which is operational at Columbia and Snake River dams. Because the technology underlying the POST array works in both freshwater and the ocean, it is therefore possible to extend the measurement of survival to large rivers lacking dams, such as the Fraser, and to also extend the measurement of survival to the lower Columbia River and estuary, where there are no dams. Of particular note, survival during the downstream migration of at least some endangered Columbia and Snake River Chinook and steelhead stocks appears to be as high or higher than that of the same species migrating out of the Fraser River in Canada, which lacks dams. Equally surprising, smolt survival during migration through the hydrosystem, when scaled by either the time or distance migrated, is higher than in the lower Columbia River and estuary where dams are absent. Our results raise important questions regarding the factors that are preventing the recovery of salmon stocks in the Columbia and the future health of stocks in the Fraser River. PMID:18959485

The form and functioning of a geomorphic system result from processes operating at various spatial and temporal scales. Longitudinal channel characteristics thus exhibit complex patterns which vary according to the scale of study, might be periodic or segmented, and are generally blurred by noise. Describing the intricate, multiscale structure of such signals, and identifying at which scales the patterns are dominant and over which sub-reach, could help determine at which scales they should be investigated, and provide insights into the main controlling factors. Wavelet transforms aim at describing data at multiple scales (either in time or space), and are now exploited in geophysics for the analysis of nonstationary series of data. They provide a consistent, non-arbitrary, and multiscale description of a signal's variations and help explore potential causalities. Nevertheless, their use in fluvial geomorphology, notably to study longitudinal patterns, is hindered by a lack of user-friendly tools to help understand, implement, and interpret them. We have developed a free application, The Wavelet ToolKat, designed to facilitate the use of wavelet transforms on temporal or spatial series. We illustrate its usefulness describing longitudinal channel curvature and slope of three freely meanderingrivers in the Amazon basin (the Purus, Juruá and Madre de Dios rivers), using topographic data generated from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 2000. Three types of wavelet transforms are used, with different purposes. Continuous Wavelet Transforms are used to identify in a non-arbitrary way the dominant scales and locations at which channel curvature and slope vary. Cross-wavelet transforms, and wavelet coherence and phase are used to identify scales and locations exhibiting significant channel curvature and slope co-variations. Maximal Overlap Discrete Wavelet Transforms decompose data into their variations at a series of scales and are used to provide

Adult Pacific lamprey migration and habitat preferences for over-winter holding and spawning, and larval rearing in tributaries to the Columbia River are not well understood. The John Day River is one such tributary where larval and adult stages of this species have been documented, and its free-flowing character provided the opportunity to study migration of Pacific lampreys unimpeded by passage constraints. Forty-two adult Pacific lampreys were captured in the John Day River near its mouth during their upstream migration. Pacific lampreys were surgically implanted with radio transmitters and released onsite, and tracked by fixed-site, aerial, and terrestrial telemetry methods for nearly one year. Adults moved upstream exclusively at night, with a mean rate of 11.1 ?? 6.3 km/day. They halted upstream migration by September, and held a single position for approximately six months in the lateral margins of riffles and glides, using boulders for cover. More than half of Pacific lampreys resumed migration in March before ending movement in early May. Pacific lampreys that resumed migration in spring completed a median of 87% of their upstream migration before over-winter holding. Upon completing migration. Pacific lampreys briefly held position before beginning downstream movement at the end of May. Though not directly observed, halting migration and movement downstream were likely the result of spawning and death. Gains in adult Pacific lamprey passage through the Columbia River hydrosystem and tributaries may be made by improvements that would expedite migration during spring and summer and increase the quantity and variety of cover and refuge opportunities. ?? 2005 by the Northwest Scientific Association. All rights reserved.

Little research has examined individual variation in migration speeds of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in natural river systems or attempted to link migratory behavior with physiological and energetic status on a large spatial scale in the wild. As a model, we used three stocks of summer-run sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from the Fraser River watershed, British Columbia, to test the hypothesis that individual variation in migration speed is determined by a combination of environmental factors (i.e., water temperature), intrinsic biological differences (sex and population), and physiological and energetic condition. Before the freshwater portion of the migration, sockeye salmon (Quesnel, Chilcotin, and Nechako stock complexes) were captured in Johnstone Strait ( approximately 215 km from river entry), gastrically implanted with radio transmitters, and sampled for blood, gill tissue, and energetic status before release. Analyses focused solely on individuals that successfully reached natal subwatersheds. Migration speeds were assessed by an extensive radiotelemetry array. Individuals from the stock complex that migrated the longest distance (Nechako) traveled at speeds slower than those of other stock complexes. Females traveled slower than males. An elevated energetic status of fish in the ocean was negatively correlated with migration speed in most river segments. During the transition from the ocean to the river, migration speed was negatively correlated with mean maximum water temperature; however, for the majority of river segments, it was positively correlated with migration speed. Physiological status measured in the ocean did not explain among-individual variability in rivermigration speeds. Collectively, these findings suggest that there could be extensive variation in migration behavior among individuals, sexes, and populations and that physiological condition in the ocean explained little of this variation relative to in-river environmental

Assessing the relationships between upstream migration and environmental variables is important to understanding the ecology of yellow-phase American Eels Anguilla rostrata. During an American Eel migration study within the lower Shenandoah River (Potomac River drainage), we counted and measured American Eels at the Millville Dam eel ladder for three periods: 14 May–23 July 2004, 7–30 September 2004, and 1 June–31 July 2005. Using generalized estimating equations, we modeled each time series of daily American Eel counts by fitting time-varying environmental covariates of lunar illumination (LI), river discharge (RD), and water temperature (WT), including 1-d and 2-d lags of each covariate. Information-theoretic approaches were used for model selection and inference. A total of 4,847 American Eels (19–74 cm total length) used the ladder during the three periods, including 2,622 individuals during a 2-d span following a hurricane-induced peak in river discharge. Additive-effects models of RD + WT, a 2-d lag of LI + RD, and LI + RD were supported for the three periods, respectively. Parameter estimates were positive for river discharge for each time period, negative for lunar illumination for two periods and positive for water temperature during one period. Additive-effects models supported synergistic influences of environmental variables on the upstream migration of yellow-phase American Eels, although river discharge was consistently supported as an influential correlate of upstream migration.

The initiation of bars in a river is caused by the interaction between flow and bed material as demonstrated by linear stability analyses, flume experiments and numerical modeling. Bar pattern determines where bank erosion takes place, which may lead to meandering in case of alternate bars combined with cohesive sediment or vegetation. Linear stability analyses provide a way to predict the initially dominant wavelength and bar mode. However, after initiation of bars, non-linear effects become dominant, rendering the analyses of limited use for real world prediction. Our objective is to understand the necessary and sufficient conditions for different river patterns. We combine flume experiments (Kleinhans et al., van Dijk et al., this conference) with field data (van den Berg et al., this conference) and linear stability analysis in comparison to numerical modeling. We used the quasi-3D-morphological model Delft3D to model the development of channel patterns, starting from a plane bed. The initial bed slope, bed particle size, upstream discharge, channel width and downstream water level were varied systematically across a large range of various river patterns from a large dataset of real rivers (van den Berg et al., this conference). Random noise was added to the initial bed (5 mm noise) and to the discharge (0.5% noise). The frequency of discharge-induced bar formation is several orders of magnitude smaller than the frequency of the discharge perturbation. The modeling shows that initially, relative small sized bars with a high mode develop in the entire reach. In case of an alternating bar pattern, the discharge-induced bars are relative low (order 0.2% of the waterdepth) and grow in downstream direction towards a height of 1.4%. The alternating bars continuously migrate in downstream direction (free bars), without the decrease in celerity predicted by linear stability analyses. In case of a braiding bar pattern (mode 7-8), the discharge-induced bars initially are

The Messinian crisis is a temporally well-constrained period between 5.3 my and 5.9 my, when the strait of Gibraltar was tectonically closed and the Mediterranean Sea had consequently desiccated. This dramatic base level drop by about 1500 vertical meters had a profound influence on the geomorphic evolution of the major drainages surrounding the Mediterranean basin. In particular, it caused substantial knickpoints in the major rivers including the Rhone, the Ebro, the Po and the Nile. While the knickpoints of the Rhone and Ebro have been studied previously and the knickpoints created by the Po may lie today underneath the Po plains, the knickpoint and its migration along the Nile has not been studied and would have migrated along its current river channel. In this contribution we focus on numerical modelling of the knickpoint migration in the Nile and use our modelling results in comparison with the present day morphological analyses of the river to constrain absolute migration rates. We suspect that the first Nile cataract near Assuan, some 1000 km upstream of today's river mouth may be the relict of the Messinian salinity crisis making it to one of the fastest migrating knickpoints in the world.

One response of rivers toward allogenic controls is large-scale river channel migration in the form of avulsions or progressive lateral migrations (combing) that are widespread phenomena around the world during the late Quaternary. Sediment-flux steering, i.e. a lateral shift of rivers against a tectonically driven subsidence trend promoted by transverse sediment discharge exerts such control. Evidence for this mechanism to operate stems from numerous field and experimental studies in extensional settings, characterized by commonly small-sized transverse catchments compared with that of the main river and/or volcaniclastic sedimentation. For the first time, this study investigates sediment-flux steering in a contractional tectonic setting with relatively large-sized transverse catchments compared with that of the main river. Geomorphologic, geochronologic, and heavy mineral provenance analyses were complemented with tectonomorphometric data to investigate late Quaternary channel migrations of the Kura River in the southern foreland basin of the Greater Caucasus. Large-scale migrations of the course of the Kura River during the late Quaternary reflect the interplay between a continuing southwestward advance of the Kura Fold-and-Thrust-Belt, leading to uplift in the NE and by climatically-triggered sediment-flux steering caused by aggradation phases of transverse rivers with comparatively large catchment areas in the Lesser Caucasus. During generally warmer periods such as the Holocene with fluvial incision and low sediment supply from the transverse rivers, the main Kura River could follow its tectonically driven trend toward the southwest. In contrast, during generally colder periods such as the upper late Pleistocene, sediment-flux steering caused by aggradation of the transverse rivers forced the main Kura River to migrate >10 km against that tectonically induced trend toward the northeast. Generally, besides improving our understanding of the coupling between

A multiyear tag and recapture study was conducted to determine whether channel catfishIctalurus punctatus were migratory and if they had strong homing tendencies. Over 10,000 channel catfish were tagged from the lower Wisconsin River and adjacent waters of the upper Mississippi River during the 3-year sampling period. Data on movements were obtained from study recaptures and through tag returns and harvest information provided by sport anglers and commercial fishers. Channel catfish occupied relatively small home ranges during summer, migrated downstream to the upper Mississippi River in autumn, then migrated back up the Wisconsin River in spring to spawn and to occupy the same summer home sites they had used in previous summers. Fish size was a factor in the degree of fidelity to summer home sites, with larger fish showing greater fidelity.

The Twin Ports fishery has undergone change from a migratory fish-based fishery to a Lake Superior-based fishery, and is now returning to a diverse fishery that includes fish of both life histories. These changes reflect past disturbances to the Great Lakes ecosystem as well as recent water quality improvement and efforts to restore habitat in the St. Louis River. Migratory fishes are an important ecosystem service for the St. Louis River, and improvements to the ecosystem quality within the St. Louis River Area of Concern has benefited migratory fishes. The coastal wetlands within the lower river provide direct support to a variety of high-value, recreationally-important fish species, including walleye, northern pike, and bass. Moreover, these wetlands serve as nursery habitat for a broader suite of high-value, commercially-important species. Restoration has likely improved the value of these coastal wetlands because low-value rough species tend to be more prevalent in degraded coastal wetlands, whereas high-value commercial and game fishes are more prevalent in high-quality coastal wetlands. There have been losses in ecosystem services, as well. Owing to legacy contamination of mercury and PCBs, migratory fishes in the St. Louis River have sufficiently high contaminant burdens to warrant consumption advisories, and recent movement research demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between increased use of St. Louis River habitat (versus Lake Superior)

We present, for the first time in tidal landscapes, an innovative inversion process of multi-frequency electromagnetic measurements (Frequency Domain Electro-Magnetic - FDEM) to unravel the vestiges of ancient meandering channels. This technique allows us to characterize the dynamics of a salt-marsh paleo-meander in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) and to emphasize interesting and peculiar features of meandermigration in tidal landscapes. An interesting result, emerging from FDEM geophysical data and validated by ancillary sedimentological analyses and boreholes, is that tidal meandersmigrate laterally while aggrading vertically, the surface bounding the top of the bar describing a "spoon-shaped geometry", which is then filled up with salt-marsh deposits. This particular behavior challenges current assessments of tidal meander morphodynamics and the possibility of applying depositional models developed for their fluvial counterparts. Our analyses emphasize in fact that tidal meandersmigrate laterally while vertically aggrading, differently from their fluvial counterparts, thus challenging current assessments of tidal meander morphodynamics. The results are of broad interest for the fields of hydrology and geomorphology and with important consequences for quantitative analyses of the long-term morphodynamic evolution of tidal meanders.

Compound meander bends with multiple lobes of maximum curvature are common in actively evolving lowland rivers. Interaction among spatial patterns of mean flow, turbulence, bed morphology, bank failures and channel migration in compound bends is poorly understood. In this paper, acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements of the three-dimensional (3D) flow velocities in a compound bend are examined to evaluate the influence of channel curvature and hydrologic variability on the structure of flow within the bend. Flow structure at various flow stages is related to changes in bed morphology over the study timeframe. Increases in local curvature within the upstream lobe of the bend reduce outer bank velocities at morphologically significant flows, creating a region that protects the bank from high momentum flow and high bed shear stresses. The dimensionless radius of curvature in the upstream lobe is one-third less than that of the downstream lobe, with average bank erosion rates less than half of the erosion rates for the downstream lobe. Higher bank erosion rates within the downstream lobe correspond to the shift in a core of high velocity and bed shear stresses toward the outer bank as flow moves through the two lobes. These erosion patterns provide a mechanism for continued migration of the downstream lobe in the near future. Bed material size distributions within the bend correspond to spatial patterns of bed shear stress magnitudes, indicating that bed material sorting within the bend is governed by bed shear stress. Results suggest that patterns of flow, sediment entrainment, and planform evolution in compound meander bends are more complex than in simple meander bends. Moreover, interactions among local influences on the flow, such as woody debris, local topographic steering, and locally high curvature, tend to cause compound bends to evolve toward increasing planform complexity over time rather than stable configurations.

In this image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, an ancient sinuous meanderingriver system is surrounded by features called yardangs. The yardangs are the ridge-like landforms that align approximately north-south. These features were created as the wind scoured and eroded the bedrock. The raised relief of the meanderingriver suggests inverted topography, likely due to lithification and cementation of the riverbed sediment. The cemented channel deposits were resistant, and thus less susceptible to erosion over time. However, the area surrounding the riverbed suggests that this area was a floodplain of weaker lithology that was subsequently eroded and shaped to the yardangs. The main meandering inverted riverbed within the image has a length of about 13 kilometers. The elevation of the channel at the top of the image is on the order of 113 meters higher than the bottom, based on Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data. This elevation difference and the increase in sinuosity of the channel shape in the southerly direction implies that the flow of the ancient river may have been heading south-southwest. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20047

We PIT tagged wild spring and summer chinook salmon parr in the Snake River Basin in 1991, and subsequently monitored these fish during their smolt migration through Lower Granite, Little Goose, and McNary Dams during spring and summer 1992. This report details our findings.

We PIT tagged wild spring/summer chinook salmon parr in the Snake River Basin in 1995 and subsequently monitored these fish during their smolt migration through Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville Dams during spring and summer 1996.

This report details the 2000 results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior of wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts in the Snake River Basin. The report also discusses trends in the cumulative data collected for this project from Oregon and Idaho streams since 1989.

This report details the 1999 results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior of wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts in the Snake River Basin. The report also discusses trends in the cumulative data collected for this project from Oregon and Idaho streams since 1989.

Between 1993 and 2000, precocious yearling males of hatchery-produced fall and spring chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha composed 3.6-82.1% of chinook salmon runs to the Umatilla River, Oregon. These yearling males are smaller than typical jack salmon, which spend a full winter in the ocean, and are commonly referred to as "mini jacks." Minijack fall chinook salmon are characterized by enlarged testes and an increased gonadosomatic index. Our goal was to determine if minijacks migrated to saltwater between the time they are released from the hatchery and the time they return to the Umatilla River, a period of 4-6 months. During 1999-2000, we collected otoliths from an adult male fall chinook salmon, 12 spring chinook salmon minijacks, and 10 fall chinook salmon minijacks. We measured strontium:calcium (Sr:Ca) ratios from the age-1 annulus to the edge of the otolith to determine whether these fish had migrated to the ocean. The Sr:Ca ratios increased from low values near the age-1 annulus, similar to ratios expected from freshwaters, to higher values near the edge of the otolith. The Sr:Ca ratios increased to levels similar to ratios expected in saltwater, indicating that these fish had migrated to saltwater before returning to the Umatilla River. Analysis of published water chemistry data from the Columbia and Snake rivers and rearing experiments in the main-stem Columbia River confirmed that high Sr:Ca ratios measured in otoliths were not the result of high strontium levels encountered in the freshwater environment. Previously assumed to remain within freshwater and near the point of release, our results suggest these minijack salmon migrated at least 800 km and past three hydroelectric dams to reach saltwater and return to the Umatilla River.

Seif dunes - which develop in the absence of vegetation and elongate in the resultant sand transport direction - are the prevailing dune type in many deserts of Earth and Mars and display a meandering shape that has challenged geomorphologists for decades. Understanding the factors controlling seif dune morphology may have impact for a broad range of scientific areas, in particular in the investigation of planetary wind regimes, as dune shape is primarily affected by wind directionality. Sand roses of areas hosting seif dunes display, in general, two main wind directions that form a divergence angle larger than 90˚ . Indeed, theory of dune formation predicts that longitudinal alignment of aeolian bedforms occurs under obtuse bimodal winds, a prediction that has been confirmed by field observations and numerical simulations of aeolian dunes, as well as by experiments on subaqueous bedforms. However, numerical simulations and water tank experiments performed under conditions of bimodal flows could never reproduce one of the most salient characteristics of the seif dune shape, which is its meandering. Instead, longitudinal dunes produced in such simulations and experiments display an unrealistic straight shape, which elongates into the resultant transport trend without developing the sinuous morphology of the seif dunes. Here we show, by means of morphodynamic modeling of aeolian sediment transport and dune formation under directionally varying flows, that the meandering shape of seif dunes can be explained by the action of subordinated sand-moving winds, which occur in addition to both main wind components of the bimodal wind. Because such subordinated winds - inherent to most measured sand roses of seif dune fields - are associated with transport rates much smaller than the sand flux values of the main bimodal wind components - they have been long thought to be negligible for dune shape. However, our simulations show that meandering may be caused by a single

The spring spawning migration is a key period for effective management of anadromous populations of striped bass Morone saxatilis. Information on migratory behavior is needed in order to develop appropriate harvest regulations and to conduct effective surveys while fish are on the spawning grounds. We used ultrasonic telemetry to estimate the timing and duration of the upriver spawning migration for the Roanoke River, North Carolina, population and to evaluate whether a short-term fluctuation in temperature or flow would alter the distribution of telemetered fish on the spawning grounds. Seventy-eight fish implanted with transmitters were released during 1993 and 1994. Twenty-nine telemetered fish migrated upriver in 1994, and 14 telemetered fish entered the river in 1995. Migration of telemetered fish began in mid- to late April when water temperatures in the lower river reached 17-18??C. Males began their spawning migration significantly earlier than females in 1994; the difference was not significant in 1995. The 165-km upriver migration took about a week, as did the downriver migration after the spawning season. In 1994 and 1995 respectively, males remained on the spawning grounds for averages of 22 and 21 d, females for 8 and 11 d. Because of shorter residency times only about half the telemetered females were on the spawning grounds at any one time during the peak of the spawning season. Striped bass remained on the spawning grounds during a short-term temperature decrease of about 4??C (over 5 d) and an increase in flow from about 190 to 390 m3/s (over 1 d).

The morphology and migration rate of bedforms in a sandy meander vary as a result of differences in boundary shear stress around the meander bend. The objective of this work is to quantify bedform size and migration rate using synoptic observations of remotely sensed water depth around a meander bend. We conducted an experiment from 9-20 July 2012 at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory Outdoor StreamLab (OSL), University of Minnesota. The OSL consists of a bedload dominated, sandy (D50 = 0.7 mm) meandering channel approximately 40 m in length, 2.7 m in width, and 0.3 m in depth. Riffles were installed upstream and downstream of the meander bend. Discharge was fixed at 199 L/s throughout the experiment and sediment feed rate was 4.1 kg/min. Four color video cameras were mounted on a tower 5 m above the floodplain on the inner bank of the meander looking down into the stream. Two additional cameras, including one near infra-red camera were mounted on the outer bank of the meander. Video data were supplemented by 1 mm resolution measurements of velocity and sonar observations of bed elevation. The sonar and video data were used to create a transfer function between pixel intensity and water depth and pixel location was corrected for refraction, resulting ~0.01 m resolution depth measurements along the entire meander bend. Initially, the stream bed was flat. A pool formed immediately downstream of the riffle. A point bar and ripples developed during the first hour of the experiment. The morphology of bedforms changed with position around the meander bend from convex upstream to convex downstream. The sinuosity of bedforms also increased around the meander bend, reaching maximum near the bend apex. Bedform wavelength increased around the meander bend from 0.5 m upstream of the bend apex to > 1.5 m downstream of the bed apex. Bedform spacing increased as alternating bedforms increased in amplitude while neighboring bedforms decreased in amplitude until they disappeared

The Chiloquin Dam was located at river kilometer (rkm) 1.3 on the Sprague River near the town of Chiloquin, Oregon. The dam was identified as a barrier that potentially inhibited or prevented the upstream spawning migrations and other movements of endangered Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus), shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris), and other fish in the Sprague River. Our research objectives in 2009 were to evaluate adult catostomid spawning migration patterns using radio telemetry to identify and describe shifts in spawning area distribution and migration behavior following the removal of Chiloquin Dam in 2008. We attached external radio transmitters to 58 Lost River suckers and 59 shortnose suckers captured at the Williamson River fish weir. A total of 17 radio-tagged Lost River suckers and one radio-tagged shortnose sucker were detected approaching the site of the former Chiloquin Dam but only two radio-tagged fish (one male Lost River sucker and one female Lost River sucker) were detected crossing upstream of the dam site. A lower proportion of radio-tagged shortnose suckers were detected migrating into the Sprague River when compared with previous years. Detections on remote passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag arrays located in the Sprague River show that although the proportion of fish coming into the Sprague River is small when compared to the number of fish crossing the Williamson River fish weir, the number of fish migrating upstream of the Chiloquin Dam site increased exponentially in the first year since its removal. These data will be used in conjunction with larval production and adult spawning distribution data to evaluate the effectiveness of dam removal in order to provide increased access to underutilized spawning habitat located further upstream in the Sprague River and to reduce the crowding of spawning fish below the dam site.

Approaches using telemetry, precise reproductive assessments, and surgically implanted data storage tags (DSTs) were used in combination with novel applications of analytical techniques for fish movement studies to describe patterns in migratory behavior and predict spawning success of gravid shovelnose sturgeon. From 2004 to 2007, over 300 gravid female shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) from the Lower Missouri River, that were expected to spawn in the year they were collected, were surgically implanted with transmitters and archival DSTs. Functional cluster modeling of telemetry data from the spawning season suggested two common migration patterns of gravid female shovelnose sturgeon. Fish implanted from 958 to 1181 river kilometer (rkm) from the mouth of the Missouri River (or northern portion of the Lower Missouri River within 354 rkm of the lowest Missouri River dam at rkm 1305) had one migration pattern. Of fish implanted from 209 to 402 rkm from the mouth of the Missouri River (or southern portion of the Lower Missouri River), half demonstrated a movement pattern similar to the northern fish while the other half demonstrated a migration pattern that covered more of the river. There was no apparent difference in migration patterns between successful and unsuccessful spawners. Multiple hypotheses exist to explain differences in migratory patterns among fish from different river reaches. Additional work is required to determine if observed differences are due to multiple adapted strategies, environmental alteration, and/or initial tagging date. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling of DST data indicated that variation in depth usage patterns was consistently different between successful and unsuccessful spawners, as indicated by differences in likelihood of switching between high and low variability states. Analyses of DST data, and data collected at capture, were sufficient to predict 8 of 10 non-spawners/incomplete spawners and all 30 spawners in the

Approaches using telemetry, precise reproductive assessments, and surgically implanted data storage tags (DSTs) were used in combination with novel applications of analytical techniques for fish movement studies to describe patterns in migratory behavior and predict spawning success of gravid shovelnose sturgeon. From 2004 to 2007, over 300 gravid female shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) from the Lower Missouri River, that were expected to spawn in the year they were collected, were surgically implanted with transmitters and archival DSTs. Functional cluster modeling of telemetry data from the spawning season suggested two common migration patterns of gravid female shovelnose sturgeon. Fish implanted from 958 to 1181 river kilometer (rkm) from the mouth of the Missouri River (or northern portion of the Lower Missouri River within 354rkm of the lowest Missouri River dam at rkm 1305) had one migration pattern. Of fish implanted from 209 to 402rkm from the mouth of the Missouri River (or southern portion of the Lower Missouri River), half demonstrated a movement pattern similar to the northern fish while the other half demonstrated a migration pattern that covered more of the river. There was no apparent difference in migration patterns between successful and unsuccessful spawners. Multiple hypotheses exist to explain differences in migratory patterns among fish from different river reaches. Additional work is required to determine if observed differences are due to multiple adapted strategies, environmental alteration, and/or initial tagging date. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling of DST data indicated that variation in depth usage patterns was consistently different between successful and unsuccessful spawners, as indicated by differences in likelihood of switching between high and low variability states. Analyses of DST data, and data collected at capture, were sufficient to predict 8 of 10 non-spawners/incomplete spawners and all 30 spawners in the

Stream channel morphology from grain-scale roughness to large meanders drives hyporheic exchange flow. In practice, it is difficult to model hyporheic flow over the wide spectrum of topographic features typically found in rivers. As a result, many studies only characterize isolated exchange processes at a single spatial scale. In this work, we simulated hyporheic flows induced by a range of geomorphic features including meanders, bars and dunes in sand bed streams. Twenty cases were examined with 5 degrees of rivermeandering. Each meanderingriver model was run initially without any small topographic features. Models were run again after superimposing only bars and then only dunes, and then run a final time after including all scales of topographic features. This allowed us to investigate the relative importance and interactions between flows induced by different scales of topography. We found that dunes typically contributed more to hyporheic exchange than bars and meanders. Furthermore, our simulations show that the volume of water exchanged and the distributions of hyporheic residence times resulting from various scales of topographic features are close to, but not linearly additive. These findings can potentially be used to develop scaling laws for hyporheic flow that can be widely applied in streams and rivers.

Using satellite images archived by Google EarthTM, we measuredchannel and oxbow-lake characteristics of 30 large meanderingrivers to identify the controls on the production of oxbow lakesby meander cutoff. Cutoff produced lognormal distributions oflake lengths within the studied reaches, and the geometric meanlake length of each population correlated positively and exponentiallywith sinuosity, due to more highly sinuous reaches being comprisedof longer meanders and to cutoff removing longer segments ofmore sinuous channels. We successfully predicted the size-frequencydistributions of lakes stored within the flood-plains of fivefreely meandering reaches using only channel sinuosity and anassumption of the variance about the geometric mean lake length,a variable that did not significantly vary between the studiedreaches. While the river's sinuosity remains steady, the temporalrate of cutoff can be estimated using channel sinuosity, thefraction by which cutoff reduces channel length, and the rateat which the reach lengthens by meander growth.

We PIT tagged wild spring/summer chinook-salmon parr in the Snake River Basin in 1994 and subsequently monitored these fish during their smolt migration through Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville Darns during spring, summer, and fall 1995. This report details our findings. The goals of this study are to (1) characterize the migration timing of different wild stocks of Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon smolts at dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, (2) determine if consistent patterns are apparent, and (3) determine what environmental factors influence migration timing.

Millions of barrels of oil escaped into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) after the 20 April, 2010 explosion of Deepwater Horizon (DH). Ocean circulation models were used to forecast oil slick migration in the GoM, however such models do not explicitly treat the effects of secondary eddy-slopes or Mississippi River (MR) hydrodynamics. Here we report oil front migration that appears to be driven by sea surface level (SSL) slopes, and identify a previously unreported effect of the MR plume: under conditions of relatively high river discharge and weak winds, a freshwater mound can form around the MR Delta. We performed temporal oil slick position and altimeter analysis, employing both interpolated altimetry data and along-track measurements for coastal applications. The observed freshwater mound appears to have pushed the DH oil slick seaward from the Delta coastline. We provide a physical mechanism for this novel effect of the MR, using a two-layer pressure-driven flow model. Results show how SSL variations can drive a cross-slope migration of surface oil slicks that may reach velocities of order km/day, and confirm a lag time of order 5-10 days between mound formation and slick migration, as observed form the satellite analysis. Incorporating these effects into more complex ocean models will improve forecasts of slick migration for future spills. More generally, large SSL variations at the MR mouth may also affect the dispersal of freshwater, nutrients and sediment associated with the MR plume.

Millions of barrels of oil escaped into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) after the 20 April, 2010 explosion of Deepwater Horizon (DH). Ocean circulation models were used to forecast oil slick migration in the GoM, however such models do not explicitly treat the effects of secondary eddy-slopes or Mississippi River (MR) hydrodynamics. Here we report oil front migration that appears to be driven by sea surface level (SSL) slopes, and identify a previously unreported effect of the MR plume: under conditions of relatively high river discharge and weak winds, a freshwater mound can form around the MR Delta. We performed temporal oil slick position and altimeter analysis, employing both interpolated altimetry data and along-track measurements for coastal applications. The observed freshwater mound appears to have pushed the DH oil slick seaward from the Delta coastline. We provide a physical mechanism for this novel effect of the MR, using a two-layer pressure-driven flow model. Results show how SSL variations can drive a cross-slope migration of surface oil slicks that may reach velocities of order km/day, and confirm a lag time of order 5–10 days between mound formation and slick migration, as observed form the satellite analysis. Incorporating these effects into more complex ocean models will improve forecasts of slick migration for future spills. More generally, large SSL variations at the MR mouth may also affect the dispersal of freshwater, nutrients and sediment associated with the MR plume. PMID:22558317

Stratigraphically trapped accumulations of oil in the Lone Tree Creek and Lodgepole Creek fields occur within and just updip from a fluvial meander belt within the Fall River Formation. The meander belt can be mapped north-to-south over a distance of at least 100 mi (161 km) in the eastern part of the Powder River basin. The northern part of the meander belt contains the oil fields of the Coyote Creek-Miller Creek trend; the southern part contains only the relatively small Lone Tree Creek and Lodgepole Creek fields. These small fields are of considerable interest, as they display a style of stratigraphic trapping of hydrocarbons not observed in the prolific Coyote Creek-Miller Creek trend. The stratigraphic traps of the Coyote Creek-Miller Creek trend occur at updip facing convexities along the eastern edge of the meander belt, with abandonment clay plugs serving as lateral permeability barriers to hydrocarbon migration. Oil has been produced in part of the Lone Tree Creek field from a similar trap. The remaining part of Lone Tree Creek field and Lodgepole creek field produce from stratigraphic traps formed by lateral pinch-outs of delta-front sandstone bodies. These traps are situated updip from and apparently in continuity with the meander-belt deposits, indicating that they may have been charged with hydrocarbons that found their way through the clay-plug barriers along the margin of the meander belt. Similar, undiscovered traps may exist updip from Fall Rivermeander belts elsewhere in the basin.

Information about spawning migration and spawning habitat is essential to maintain and ultimately restore populations of endangered and threatened species of anadromous fish. We used ultrasonic and radiotelemetry to monitor the movements of 35 adult Gulf sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi (a subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon A. oxyrinchus) as they moved between Choctawhatchee Bay and the Choctawhatchee River system during the spring of 1996 and 1997. Histological analysis of gonadal biopsies was used to determine the sex and reproductive status of individuals. Telemetry results and egg sampling were used to identify Gulf sturgeon spawning sites and to examine the roles that sex and reproductive status play in migratory behavior. Fertilized Gulf sturgeon eggs were collected in six locations in both the upper Choctawhatchee and Pea rivers. Hard bottom substrate, steep banks, and relatively high flows characterized collection sites. Ripe Gulf sturgeon occupied these spawning areas from late March through early May, which included the interval when Gulf sturgeon eggs were collected. For both sexes, ripe fish entered the Choctawhatchee River significantly earlier and at a lower water temperature and migrated further upstream than did nonripe fish. Males entered the Choctawhatchee River at a lower water temperature than females. Results from histology and telemetry support the hypothesis that male Gulf sturgeon may spawn annually, whereas females require more than 1 year between spawning events. Upper river hard bottom areas appear important for the successful spawning of Gulf sturgeon, and care should be taken to protect against habitat loss or degradation of known spawning habitat.

Water samples were collected from the Qinmuguan underground river from July to November in 2013. By gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), dissolved sterols were quantitatively analyzed. The results show that the average variation content of dissolved sterols ranges from 415 to 629 ng x L(-1), with the increasing migration distance of dissolved sterols in underground river, its contents are decreased. Between the inlet and outlet of Qingmuguan underground river, the average variation contents of dissolved sterol are between 724 and 374 ng x L(-1), and the average variation ratios of the content of stigmasterol with cholesterol range from 0.29 to 0.12. In short, their values are decreased accompanied by the increasing migration distance of underground river. The composing component in dissolved sterols varied differently between July to December, and the main component of dissolved sterols is cholesterin, the ratios of the content of dissolved sterols with cholesterin to the total dissolved sterols range from 37.30% to 94.85%. In addition, the ratios of the content of dissolved sterols with coprostanol to cholesterin, coprostanol to cholesterin are below 0.2 respectively, indicating the water quality of underground river is not contaminated by domestic sewage, but with the passage of time water quality tends to deterioration.

The goals of this study are to (1) characterize the outmigration timing of different wild stocks of spring/summer chinook salmon smolts at dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, (2) determine if consistent patterns are apparent, and (3) determine what environmental factors influence outmigration timing. The authors PIT tagged wild spring/summer chinook salmon parr in the Snake River Basin in 1993, and subsequently monitored these fish during their smolt migration through Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and McNary Dams during spring, summer, and fall 1994. This report details their findings.

Various methods have been developed to mitigate the effects of dams on juvenile Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. migrating to the Pacific Ocean through the Columbia River basin. In this study, we examined the health of hatchery Snake River spring and summer Chinook salmon relative to two mitigating strategies: dam bypass and transportation (e.g., barging). The health of out-migrants was assessed in terms of the difference in the incidence of mortality among fish, categorically grouped into no-bypass, bypass, and transportation life histories, in response to challenge with the marine pathogen Listonella anguillarum during seawater holding. These three life histories were defined as follows: (1) fish that were not detected at any of the juvenile bypass systems above Bonneville Dam were classified as having a no-bypass life history; (2) fish that were detected at one or more juvenile bypass systems above Bonneville Dam were classified as having a bypass life history; and (3) fish that were barged were classified as having the transportation life history. Barged fish were found to be less susceptible to L. anguillarum than in-river fish-whether bypassed or not-which suggests that transportation may help mitigate the adverse health effects of the hydropower system of the Columbia River basin on Snake River spring-summer Chinook salmon. The findings of this study are not necessarily transferable to other out-migrant stocks in the Columbia River basin, given that only one evolutionarily significant unit, that is, Snake River spring-summer Chinook salmon, was used in this study.

For the sustainable development of the social economy, it is very important that the water environment quality is analyzed, evaluated and predicted rationally, so that it could be planned, harnessed and managed effectively. To analyze and predict the water environment, the hydrodynamics behaviors and water pollution situations of the water body must be analyzed first based on hydrodynamics and water quality models. The objective of this work is to introduce how to establish river water dynamics and water quality model through the environment in the basin pollutant migration transformation rule, to simulate the rules and dynamics of river water pollution situation, to introduce the water quality model with geographic information system (GIS), and to apply the combination of environment numerical simulation to basin pollutant migration problem.

Despite considerable attention, the long-term impact of rivers on species diversification remains uncertain. Meander loop cutoff (MLC) is one river phenomenon that may compromise a river's diversifying effects by passively transferring organisms from one side of the river to the other. However, the ability of MLC to promote gene flow across rivers has not been demonstrated empirically. Here, we test several predictions of MLC-mediated gene flow in populations of North American ground skinks (Scincella lateralis) separated by a well-established riverine barrier, the Mississippi River: 1) individuals collected from within meander cutoffs should be more closely related to individuals across the river than on the same side, 2) individuals within meander cutoffs should contain more immigrants than individuals away from meander cutoffs, 3) immigration rates estimated across the river should be highest in the direction of the cutoff event, and 4) the distribution of alleles native to one side of the river should be better predicted by the historical rather than current path of the river. To test these predictions we sampled 13 microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA from ground skinks collected near three ancient meander loops. These predictions were generally supported by genetic data, although support was stronger for mtDNA than for microsatellite data. Partial support for genetic divergence of samples within ancient meander loops also provides evidence for the MLC hypothesis. Although a role for MLC-mediated gene flow was supported here for ground skinks, the transient nature of river channels and morphologies may limit the long-term importance of MLC in stemming population divergence across major rivers.

We used the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) to measure river widths and sinuosities nationally. Sinuosities were measured over reaches scaled by river width; sinuosity values typically increase with increasing reach length. By using short reaches of ~1 meander arc length, we aim to isolate sinuosity of channels meandering within floodplains. Spatial averaging of sinuosity over the eastern half of the U.S.--where measurements are dense--produces an intuitive map that we deem more useful than individual measurements. Sinuosity exhibits the following correlations: drainage density r = -0.34; soil sand content r = 0.54; land slope r = -0.37. We submit that lateral erosion of bend outer banks in sinuous rivers is driven by a self-reinforcing mass balance cycle wherein sand eroded from outer banks sustains point bar lateral accretion, which in turn sustains outer bend lateral erosion and forces passive lateral flow migration away from the advancing point bar.

We present the first data on changes in ionoregulatory physiology of maturing, migratory adult sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka. Fraser River sockeye were intercepted in the ocean as far away as the Queen Charlotte Islands (approximately 850 km from the Fraser River) and during freshwater migration to the spawning grounds; for some populations this was a distance of over 700 km. Sockeye migrating in seawater toward the mouth of the Fraser River and upriver to spawning grounds showed a decline in gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity. As a result, gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity of fish arriving at the spawning grounds was significantly lower than values obtained from fish captured before entry into freshwater. Plasma osmolality and chloride levels also showed significant decreases from seawater values during the freshwater migration to spawning areas. Movement from seawater to freshwater increased mRNA expression of a freshwater-specific Na+,K+-ATPase isoform (alpha1a) while having no effect on the seawater-specific isoform (alpha1b). In addition, gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity generally increased in active spawners compared with unspawned fish on the spawning grounds and this was associated with a marked increase in Na+,K+-ATPase alpha1b mRNA. Increases in gill Na+,K+-ATPase activities observed in spawners suggests that the fish may be attempting to compensate for the osmotic perturbation associated with the decline in plasma chloride concentration and osmolality.

Fry of five species of salmonids are found in the lower reaches of the Ozernaya River. The most abundant are chum salmon and pink salmon which compose the bulk of fry which migrate downstream from the river to the sea. The dates and duration of migration of particular species differed according to the specific traits of their biology. Pink salmon is characterized by a simple migration strategy: it migrated downstream in a short time after emergence from theground. Chum salmon has two strategies of downstream migration: some fry start migration soon after emergence, and others remained in the river for several weeks. Downstream migration of pink salmon occurred mainly at night in contrast to that of chum salmon, over 24 h, the part of daytime increased with growth, of the fish. Migration of pink salmon was passive. Passive migration of chum salmon changed into active-passive with growth of the fish. The ratio of fish in the inshore zone and in the current was different in the course of 24 h. The number of fish in the inshore zone decreased in the period of intensive downstream migration.

Upstream migrant adults of stellate sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus (10 in 1998, 43 in 1999) and Russian sturgeon, A. gueldenstaedtii (three in 1999) were captured at river km (rkm) 58-137, mostly in the spring, and tagged with acoustic tags offering a reward for return. The overharvest was revealed by tag returns (38% in 1998, 28% in 1999) and by harvest within 26 days (and before reaching spawning grounds) of the six stellate sturgeon tracked upstream. A drop-back of > 50% of the tagged sturgeon, some to the Black Sea, shows a high sensitivity to interruption of migration and capture/handling/holding. Harvesting and dropback prevented tracking of sturgeon to spawning sites. Gillnetting and tracking of stellate sturgeon showed that the autumn migration ended in early October (river temperature 16??C) and identified a likely wintering area at river km (rkm) 75-76 (St George Branch). Thus, fishery harvesting after early October captures wintering fish, not migrants. Rare shoreline cliffs in the lower river likely create the only rocky habitat for sturgeon spawning. A survey for potential spawning habitats found five sites with rocky substrate and moderate water velocity, all ???rkm 258. Drift netting caught early life-stages of 17 fish species and one sturgeon, a beluga, Huso huso, larva likely spawned at ???rkm 258. All diadromous Danube sturgeons likely spawn at ???rkm 258.

Despite considerable attention, the long-term impact of rivers on species diversification remains uncertain. Meander loop cutoff (MLC) is one river phenomenon that may compromise a river’s diversifying effects by passively transferring organisms from one side of the river to the other. However, the ability of MLC to promote gene flow across rivers has not been demonstrated empirically. Here, we test several predictions of MLC-mediated gene flow in populations of North American ground skinks (Scincella lateralis) separated by a well-established riverine barrier, the Mississippi River: 1) individuals collected from within meander cutoffs should be more closely related to individuals across the river than on the same side, 2) individuals within meander cutoffs should contain more immigrants than individuals away from meander cutoffs, 3) immigration rates estimated across the river should be highest in the direction of the cutoff event, and 4) the distribution of alleles native to one side of the river should be better predicted by the historical rather than current path of the river. To test these predictions we sampled 13 microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA from ground skinks collected near three ancient meander loops. These predictions were generally supported by genetic data, although support was stronger for mtDNA than for microsatellite data. Partial support for genetic divergence of samples within ancient meander loops also provides evidence for the MLC hypothesis. Although a role for MLC-mediated gene flow was supported here for ground skinks, the transient nature of river channels and morphologies may limit the long-term importance of MLC in stemming population divergence across major rivers. PMID:23658778

A continuous, meandering, leveed channel traverses the Mississippi fan from the continental slope to the abyssal plain. Using water-gun seismic reflection profiling, 3.5- and 4.5-kHz profiling, and SeaMARC I side-scan sonar, the authors surveyed a 30-km (16-nmi) long channel segment midway between the slope break and channel terminus, where the channel bends through a tight meander with a 2.8-km (1.5-nmi) radius of curvature. At the entrance to each meander bend, the outer levee is unusually low, similar to the crevasses observed in rivers. The levees are constructed of an acoustically opaque unit and draped with an acoustically laminated unit; these are interpreted as coarser and finer grained overbank deposits, respectively. A series of high-amplitude seismic reflectors underlying the channel axis are interpreted as coarse sediments deposited from the base of turbidity currents. When last active, the channel was more than 100 m (300 ft) deep, but it has been filled to the brim by acoustically transparent units, leaving a levee crest/thalweg relief of as little as 5 m (16 ft). These channel-filling units are interpreted as debris flows. The upper surface of the debris flows is sculpted by flowline-parallel, side-scan lineations where the flow was unimpeded and by arcuate ridges transverse to the flow where bathymetric obstacles constrained the flow. 10 figures.

We compiled and summarized previous sources of data and research results related to the presence, numbers, and migration timing characteristics of juvenile (eyed macropthalmia) and larval (ammocoetes) Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus, in the Columbia River basin (CRB). Included were data from various screw trap collections, data from historic fyke net studies, catch records of lampreys at JBS facilities, turbine cooling water strainer collections, and information on the occurrence of lampreys in the diets of avian and piscine predators. We identified key data gaps and uncertainties that should be addressed in a juvenile lamprey passage research program. The goal of this work was to summarize information from disparate sources so that managers can use it to prioritize and guide future research and monitoring efforts related to the downstream migration of juvenile Pacific lamprey within the CRB. A common finding in all datasets was the high level of variation observed for CRB lamprey in numbers present, timing and spatial distribution. This will make developing monitoring programs to accurately characterize lamprey migrations and passage more challenging. Primary data gaps centered around our uncertainty on the numbers of juvenile and larval present in the system which affects the ability to assign risk to passage conditions and prioritize management actions. Recommendations include developing standardized monitoring methods, such as at juvenile bypass systems (JBS’s), to better document numbers and timing of lamprey migrations at dams, and use biotelemetry tracking techniques to estimate survival potentials for different migration histories.

Laboratory experiments carried out by Abad and Garcia (2009) in a high-amplitude Kinoshita meandering channel show bed morphodynamics to comprise steady (local scour and deposition) and unsteady (migrating bedforms) components. The experiments are replicated with a numerical model. The sediment tran...

This report documents a four-year study to assess hydraulic conditions in the lower Snake River. The work was conducted for the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Cold water released from the Dworshak Reservoir hypolimnion during mid- to late-summer months cools the Clearwater River far below equilibrium temperature. The volume of released cold water augments the Clearwater River, and the combined total discharge is on the order of the Snake River discharge when the two rivers meet at their confluence near the upstream edge of Lower Granite Reservoir. With typical temperature differences between the Clearwater and Snake rivers of 10°C or more during July and August, the density difference between the two rivers during summer flow augmentation periods is sufficient to stratify Lower Granite Reservoir as well as the other three reservoirs downstream. Because cooling of the river is desirable for migrating juvenile fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) during this same time period, the amount of mixing and cold water entrained into Lower Granite Reservoir’s epilimnion at the Clearwater/Snake River confluence is of key biological importance to juvenile fall Chinook salmon. Data collected during this project indicates the three reservoirs downstream of Lower Granite also stratify as direct result of flow augmentation from Dworshak Reservoir. These four lower Snake reservoirs are also heavily influenced by wind forcing at the water’s surface, and during periods of low river discharge, often behave like a two-layer lake. During these periods of stratification, lower river discharge, and wind forcing, the water in the upper layer of the reservoir is held in place or moves slightly upstream. This upper layer is also exposed to surface heating and may warm up to temperatures close to equilibrium temperature. The depth of this upper warm layer and its direction of travel may also be of key

Iceland is the small island on the mid Atlantic ridge, with strong natural catastrophes, such as floods, droughts, landslides, storms and volcanic eruptions that can have devastating impacts on natural and build environment. Rangárvellir area next to Mt Hekla and the glacier Tindfjallajökul has impacted by severe erosion processes but also rich of surface water that play a crucial role in sediment transport processes in the watersheds of the two rivers Eystri-Rangá and Ytri-Rangá. Their sediments consist of various materials originating from volcanoes ash and lava. Difference of contents of various chemical components in sediments and surrounding soil could be bases for identification of erosion processes and watersheds connectivity. River sediment is accumulator of chemical constituents from water in water-sediment interaction, making it as an important material for investigation their migration routes. In order to develop of methods for investigating of sediment migration using their chemical patterns the STSM of Connecteur COST Action ES1306-34336 have been approved. Samples of river sediments and surrounding soils of the Eystri-Rangá and Ytri-Rangá rivers in watersheds of Rangárvellir area as well as primarily volcanic ash from Eyafjallajökull were taken. Sequential extraction of heavy metals and trace elements from collected samples has been applied using the optimized procedure proposed by European Community Bureau of reference (BCR) in the next fractions: 1) soluble in acid - metals that are exchangeable or associated with carbonates; 2) reducible fraction - metals associated with oxides of Fe and Mn; 3) oxidizable fraction - metals associated with organic matter and sulfides and 4) residual fraction - metals strongly associated with the crystalline structure of minerals. Extracted solutions have analyzed by ICP/OES on next elements: Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sb, Si, Sr, V, Zn. Distributions

Acoustic and archival tags examined freshwater and marine migrations of postspawn steelhead kelts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Ninilchik River, Alaska, USA. Postspawn steelhead were captured at a weir in 2002-2005. Scale analysis indicated multiple migratory life histories and spawning behaviors. Acoustic tags were implanted in 99 kelts (2002-2003), and an array of acoustic receivers calculated the average speed of outmigration, timing of saltwater entry, and duration of residency in the vicinity of the river mouth. Ocean migration data were recovered from two archival tags implanted in kelts in 2004 (one male and one female). Archival tags documented seasonal differences in maximum depth and behavior with both fish spending 97% of time at sea <6 m depth (day and night). All study fish were double tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags implanted in the body cavity. Less than 4% of PIT tags were retained in postspawn steelhead. Molecular genetics demonstrated no significant differences in genetic population structure across years or among spawning life history types, suggesting a genetically panmictic population with highly diverse life history characteristics in the Ninilchik River.

It is difficult for agencies to evaluate the impacts of the many planned dams on Sa??o Francisco River, Brazil, migratory fishes because fish migrations are poorly known. We conducted a study on zulega Prochilodus argenteus, an important commercial and recreational fish in the Sa??o Francisco River, to identify migrations and spawning areas and to determine linear home range. During two spawning seasons (2001-2003), we radio-tagged fish in three main-stem reaches downstream of Tre??s Marias Dam (TMD), located at river kilometer (rkm) 2,109. We tagged 10 fish at Tre??s Marias (TM), which is 5 km downstream of TMD; 12 fish at Pontal, which is 28 km downstream of TMD and which includes the mouth of the Abaete?? River, and 10 fish at Cilga, which is 45 km downstream of TMD. Late-stage (ripe) adults tagged in each area during the spawning season remained at or near the tagging site, except for four Cilga fish that went to Pontal and probably spawned. The Pontal area at the Abaete?? River mouth was the most important spawning site we found. Prespawning fish moved back and forth between main-stem staging areas upstream of the Abaete?? River mouth and Pontal for short visits. These multiple visits were probably needed as ripe fish waited for spawning cues from a flooding Abaete?? River. Some fish homed to prespaw ning staging areas, spawning areas, and nonspawning areas. The migratory style of zulega was dualistic, with resident and migratory fish. Total linear home range was also dualistic, with small (<26-km) and large (53-127-km) ranges. The locations of spawning areas and home ranges suggest that the Pontal group (which includes Cilga fish) is one population that occupies about 110 km. The Pontal population overlaps a short distance with a population located downstream of Cilga. Movements of late-stage TM adults suggest that the TM group is a separate population, possibly with connections to populations upstream of TMD. ?? Copyright by the American Fisheries Society

This reports details the 1998 study results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior of wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts in the Snake River Basin. The report also discusses trends observed in the cumulative data resulting from this project; data has been collected from Oregon and Idaho streams since 1989. The project was initiated after 3 years of detection data from PIT-tags (passive-integrated-transponder tags) had shown distinct differences in migration patterns between wild and hatchery fish. Data showing these patterns had originated from tagging and interrogation operations begun in 1988 to evaluate a smolt transportation program conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for the US Army Corps of Engineers. In 1991, the Bonneville Power Administration began a cooperative effort with NMFS to expand tagging and interrogation of wild fish for this project. Project goals were to characterize the outmigration timing of these fish, to determine whether consistent migration patterns would emerge, and to investigate the influence of environmental factors on the timing and distribution of these migrations. In 1992, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) began an independent program of PIT tagging wild chinook salmon parr in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River Basins in northeast Oregon. Since then, ODFW has reported all tagging, detection, and timing information on fish from these streams. However, with ODFW concurrence, NMFS will continue to report arrival timing of these fish at Lower Granite Dam. We continued to tag fish from Idaho in all years subsequent to 1992. Principal results from our tagging and interrogation efforts during 1997-1998 are given.

The development of a mechanistic understanding of channel geometry and morphodynamics has been inhibited by the inability to create self-formed, freely meandering, single thread channels in a laboratory flume. By being able to reliably generate such channels, studies of the influence of sediment supply and flow dynamics as well as bank strength on channel morphology can be experimentally explored. We have found that the key experimental controls are: 1) ratio of bank strength to boundary shear stress exerted on the bank; 2) bedload and suspended load rates; and 3) variable flow discharge. We have been able to create meandering channels in a sand bedded laboratory flume using alfalfa sprouts. The alfalfa sprouts decrease the bank erosion rate so that bank erosion would occur at approximately the same pace as bar growth. The addition of coarse suspended load was necessary to cause deposition on bars to grow to the floodplain height. The sprouts contributed to deposition by creating a rough floodplain surface. Steady discharge failed to produced meandering, apparently due to the lack of suspended load deposition on the bar surface. The channels were created in a 3.6-m wide and 6.1-m long flume with an adjustable slope set at 0.01. We introduced both bedload (sand) and suspended load (crushed silica) into the top of the flume, which has an initial channel with either one or two bends carved into the floodplain. Runs lasted between 1 and 4 hours and occurred once per week. Alfalfa seeds were spread evenly outside the low flow channel following each run and are allowed to grow between runs. With the same material and flow conditions, the channel rapidly braided without the alfalfa sprouts. Braided was also favored under steady flow conditions. Under dynamic flows with banks strengthened by sprouts, the resulting experimental channels had many of the features observed in meandering streams such as oxbow lakes and meander cutoffs. The cutoffs occurred during overbank flows

During the migration from their freshwater habitats of rivers to the ocean, juvenile Chinook salmon encounter substantially different abiotic and biotic conditions. These differences in conditions in can have important consequences for growth, condition (lipid storage), and survival. We developed a generic energetic model based off Dynamic Energy Budget theory that characterizes growth and energy allocation dynamics as a function of biotic (food density) and abiotic (water temperature) conditions. We then linked the bioenergetics model with coupled physical-biological models of river, estuary, and ocean habitats to predict energy dynamics before, during, and after the transition to ocean environments. The analysis of our model yielded novel insights about energy partitioning between growth and storage lipids as a function of food density. Furthermore we used the model to identify physical conditions associated with fast growth and high survival in the first few months in the ocean, a critical transition in the salmon life cycle.

In-channel structures are often installed in alluvial rivers during restoration to steer currents, but they also modify the streambed morphology and water surface profile, and alter hydraulic gradients driving ecologically important hyporheic exchange. Although river features before and after restoration need to be compared, few studies have collected detailed observations to facilitate this comparison. We created a laboratory mobile-bed alluvial meanderingriver and collected detailed measurements in the highly sinuous meander before and after installation of in-channel structures, which included one cross vane and six J-hooks situated along 1 bar unit. Measurements of streambed and water surface elevation with submillimeter vertical accuracy and horizontal resolution were obtained using close-range photogrammetry. Compared to the smooth gradually varied water surface profile for control runs without structures, the structures created rapidly varied flow with subcritical to supercritical flow transitions, as well as backwater and forced-morphology pools, which increased volumetric storage by 74% in the entire stream reach. The J-hooks, located along the outer bank of the meander bend and downstream of the cross vane, created stepwise patterns in the streambed and water surface longitudinal profiles. The pooling of water behind the cross vane increased the hydraulic gradient across the meander neck by 1% and increased local groundwater gradients by 4%, with smaller increases across other transects through the intrameander zone. Scour pools developed downstream of the cross vane and around the J-hooks situated near the meander apex. In-channel structures significantly changed meander bend hydraulic gradients, and the detailed streambed and water surface 3-D maps provide valuable data for computational modeling of changes to hyporheic exchange.

The White River is the largest stream in the southeastern part of the Uinta Basin in Utah and Colorado. This map shows the changes that have occurred in the location of the main channel of the river from 1936 to 1974. The map indicated that certain reaches of the river are subject to different rates of channel migration. Also shown is the boundary of the flood plain, which is mapped at the point of abrupt break in slope. This map documents the position of the river channel prior to any withdrawals of water or alteration of the flow characteristics of the white river that may occur in order to meet water requirements principally associated with the proposed oil-shale industry or other development in the area.The channel locations were determined from aerial photographs taken at four different time periods for the following Federal agencies: In 1936, U.S. Soil Conservation Services; 1953, U.S. Corps of Engineers; 1965, U.S. Geological Survey; and in 1974, U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The 1936 delineation, which is actually based upon photographs that were taken in 1936 and 1937, was made by projection of the original photographs on a base map that was prepared from 1:24,000 scale topographic maps. The 1953, 1965, and 1974 delineations were produced from stereographic models. The 1965 delineation was compiled from photographs that were taken during 1962-65. The delineation is labeled as 1965 for simplicity, however, because the photographs for 1965 cover about 60 percent of the study read of the river, and because no changed were discernable in those areas of repetitive photographic coverage.

Fragmentation of the Yellowstone River is hypothesized to preclude recruitment of endangered Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon) by impeding upstream spawning migrations and access to upstream spawning areas, thereby limiting the length of free-flowing river required for survival of early life stages. Building on this hypothesis, the reach of the Yellowstone River affected by Intake Diversion Dam (IDD) is targeted for modification. Structures including a rock ramp and by-pass channel have been proposed as restoration alternatives to facilitate passage. Limited information on migrations and swimming capabilities of pallid sturgeon is available to guide engineering design specifications for the proposed structures. Migration behavior, pathways (channel routes used during migrations), and swimming capabilities of free-ranging wild adult pallid sturgeon were examined using radiotelemetry, and complemented with hydraulic data obtained along the migration pathways. Migrations of 12–26% of the telemetered pallid sturgeon population persisted to IDD, but upstream passage over the dam was not detected. Observed migration pathways occurred primarily through main channel habitats; however, migrations through side channels up to 3.9 km in length were documented. The majority of pallid sturgeon used depths of 2.2–3.4 m and mean water velocities of 0.89–1.83 m/s while migrating. Results provide inferences on depths, velocities, and habitat heterogeneity of reaches successfully negotiated by pallid sturgeon that may be used to guide designs for structures facilitating passage at IDD. Passage will provide connectivity to potential upstream spawning areas on the Yellowstone River, thereby increasing the likelihood of recruitment for this endangered species.

Many fishes migrate extensively through stream networks, yet patterns are commonly described only in terms of the origin and destination of migration (e.g., between natal and feeding habitats). To better understand patterns of migration in bull trout,Salvelinus confluentus we studied the influences of body size (total length [TL]) and environmental factors (stream temperature and discharge) on migrations in the Boise River basin, Idaho. During the autumns of 2001-2003, we tracked the downstream migrations of 174 radio-tagged bull trout ranging in size from 21 to 73 cm TL. The results indicated that large bull trout (>30 cm) were more likely than small fish to migrate rapidly downstream after spawning in headwater streams in early autumn. Large bull trout also had a higher probability of arriving at the current terminus of migration in the system, Arrowrock Reservoir. The rate of migration by small bull trout was more variable and individuals were less likely to move into Arrowrock Reservoir. The rate of downstream migration by all fish was slower when stream discharge was greater. Temperature was not associated with the rate of migration. These findings indicate that fish size and environmentally related changes in behavior have important influences on patterns of migration. In a broader context, these results and other recent work suggest, at least in some cases, that commonly used classifications of migratory behavior may not accurately reflect the full range of behaviors and variability among individuals (or life stages) and environmental conditions. ?? Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 2008.

In August 1996, we PIT tagged and released 1,360 wild chinook salmon parr in the South Fork of the Salmon River and two of its tributaries in Idaho. During spring and summer 1997, the overall adjusted percentage of PIT-tagged fish from Idaho detected at six downstream dams averaged 18.3% (range 16.0 to 27.3% depending on stream of origin). Peak detections of all wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts (from Idaho and Oregon) at Lower Granite Dam occurred during variable but increasing river flows in April. High river flows from mid-April to mid-May moved most of these fish through Lower Granite Dam, with 50 and 90% passage occurring on 24 April and 21 May, respectively. From 1989 to 1996, peak detections of wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts were highly variable and generally independent of river flows before about 9 May at this dam; however, during these years (including 1997), peak detections of wild fish coincided with periods of peak flow at the dam from 9 May to the end of May. In both 1995 and 1996, in excess of 90% of the wild fish had migrated past Lower Granite Dam by the time peak flows occurred in June. In 1989, we observed a period of peak detections of wild fish that coincided with peak flows at the dam in June. After examining chinook salmon smolt passage timing at the dams over the last 9 years, it has become clear that flow is only one of several factors that influence passage timing. Other factors, such as annual climatic conditions, water temperature, turbidity, physiological development, variability in stock behavior, fish size, and other yet unknown conditions may equally affect wild smolt passage timing at dams. As additional environmental monitors and traps are installed in study streams, we will be able to more accurately monitor parr and smolt movements out of rearing areas and examine the relationships of these movements to environmental parameters within the streams. Mapped over time, this information will provide the basis for

NASA's Landsat family of satellites have been observing the entire globe since 1984, providing over 30 years of snapshots with an 18 day frequency and 30 meter resolution. These publicly-available Landsat data are particularly exciting to researchers interested in river morphodynamics, who are often limited to use of historical maps, aerial photography, and field surveys with poor and irregular time resolutions and limited spatial extents. Landsat archives show potential for overcoming these limitations, but techniques and tools for accurately and efficiently mining the vault of scenes must first be developed. In this PICO presentation, we detail the problems we encountered while mapping and quantifying planform dynamics of over 1,300 km of the actively-migrating, meandering Ucayali River in Peru from Landsat imagery. We also present methods to overcome these obstacles and introduce the Matlab-based RivMAP (River Morphodynamics from Analysis of Planforms) toolbox that we developed to extract banklines and centerlines, compute widths, curvatures, and angles, identify cutoffs, and quantify planform changes via centerline migration and erosion/accretion over large spatial domains with high temporal resolution. Measurement uncertainties were estimated by analyzing immobile, abandoned oxbow lakes. Our results identify hotspots of planform changes, and combined with limited precipitation, stage, and topography data, we parse three simultaneous controls on rivermigration: climate, sediment, and meander cutoff. Overall, this study demonstrates the vast potential locked within Landsat archives to identify multi-scale controls on rivermigration, observe the co-evolution of width, curvature, discharge, and migration, and discover and develop new geomorphic insights.

As riversmeander, channel migration and cutoffs introduce continuous and episodic changes, respectively, in local boundary shear stress and bedload flux. These changes must affect the local and reach scale channel dynamics, but assessing their influence is limited by complications associated with varying discharge as well as challenging spatial and time scales. Here we explore the dynamics of a scaled-down gravel bed meanderingriver with constant discharge and sediment supply in a 6.1 m by 17 m long experimental flume at UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station. The experiments are similar to Braudrick et al. (2009), but with constant rather than varying sediment supply. The flume was filled with a sorted sand with D50 of 0.85 mm, and had an initial 40 cm wide channel with a sinuosity of 1.1. Alfalfa sprouts provided bank and floodplain strength. The alfalfa was seeded by hand throughout the floodplain while a low flow provided irrigation during the 7-day alfalfa growth period. Sand (model gravel) and a lightweight plastic sediment (model sand) were fed independently from the upstream end of the flume at constant rates of 1.8 and 5 kg/hr, respectively. Despite the steady input conditions the experimental channel was quite dynamic as channel migration and bend morphology varied spatially and temporally. The sinuosity in the downstream 10 m of the flume (away from the inlet condition) increased from 1.1 to about 1.6 over the first 75 hours of the experiment, when 3 cutoffs in 29 hours decreased the sinuosity back to just over the initial value. Bank erosion was fastest when curvature was low at the beginning of the experiment and following cutoffs, and slowed once sinuosity increased. Once curvature increased the bends became asymmetric as bank erosion occurred almost exclusively at the bend apex. As the channel migrated, the local sinuosity increased, which decreasing the water surface slope and hence shear stress. The lower shear stress caused subsequent channel

Survival, distribution, and behavior of hatchery (n = 493) and naturally reared (n = 133) smolts of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar migrating through the Penobscot River and estuary in Maine were evaluated with acoustic telemetry in 2005 and 2006. Survival and use of a secondary migration path (the Stillwater Branch) were estimated with a multistate mark–recapture model. Higher rates of mortality per kilometer (range = 0.01–0.22) were observed near release sites and within reaches that contained three particular dams: Howland, West Enfield, and Milford dams. Estimated total survival of tagged hatchery smolts through entire individual reaches containing those dams ranged from 0.52 ( 0.18) to 0.94 ( 0.09), whereas survival through most of the reaches without dams exceeded 0.95. Of those smolts that survived to the Penobscot River–Stillwater Branch split at Marsh Island, most (≥74%) remained in the main stem around Marsh Island, where they experienced lower survival than fish that used the Stillwater Branch. Movement rates of hatchery-reared smolts were significantly lower through reaches containing dams than through reaches that lacked dams. Smolts arriving at dams during the day experienced longer delays than smolts arriving at night. Planned removal of two dams in this system is expected to enhance the passage of smolts through the main-stem corridor. However, the dams currently scheduled for removal (Great Works and Veazie dams) had less influence on smolt survival than some of the dams that will remain. This case study shows that by examining prerestoration migration dynamics throughout entire river systems rather than just in the vicinity of particular dams, tracking studies can help prioritize restoration efforts or predict the costs and benefits of future hydrosystem changes.

The timing of Anguilla spp. glass eel recruitment into the Waikato River, North Island, New Zealand, was studied over a 2 year period (2004-2005). While glass eels of both the shortfin eel Anguilla australis and the endemic longfin eel Anguilla dieffenbachii were caught, the former comprised >97% of the species composition. There was a positive correlation of glass eel migrations with spring tides, with peak migration periods typically occurring within a few hours of the peak of high tide, and between 2 and 4 days after the day of spring tide. Both water temperature and discharge had significant inverse relationships with glass eel catches, with temperature explaining >30% of the variance in catch periodicity. Comparison of catch data 30 years apart showed that main migration periods appear to occur several weeks earlier today than previously. Reduced catch per unit effort and duration of runs from recent years' sampling (compared with the 1970s) indicate that a reduction in recruitment may also have occurred during this period, something recorded in other temperate species of Anguilla.

Meandering instability is familiar to everyone through rivermeandering or small rivulets of rain flowing down a windshield. However, its physical understanding is still premature, although it could inspire researchers in various fields, such as nonlinear science, fluid mechanics and geophysics, to resolve their long-standing problems. Here, we perform a small-scale experiment in which air flow is created in a thin granular bed to successfully find a meandering regime, together with other remarkable fluidized regimes, such as a turbulent regime. We discover that phase diagrams of the flow regimes for different types of grains can be universally presented as functions of the flow rate and the granular-bed thickness when the two quantities are properly renormalized. We further reveal that the meandering shapes are self-similar as was shown for meanderingrivers. The experimental findings are explained by theory, with elucidating the physics. The theory is based on force balance, a minimum-dissipation principle, and a linear-instability analysis of a continuum equation that takes into account the fluid-solid duality, i.e., the existence of fluidized and solidified regions of grains along the meandering path. The present results provide fruitful links to related issues in various fields, including fluidized bed reactors in industry.

Meandering instability is familiar to everyone through rivermeandering or small rivulets of rain flowing down a windshield. However, its physical understanding is still premature, although it could inspire researchers in various fields, such as nonlinear science, fluid mechanics and geophysics, to resolve their long-standing problems. Here, we perform a small-scale experiment in which air flow is created in a thin granular bed to successfully find a meandering regime, together with other remarkable fluidized regimes, such as a turbulent regime. We discover that phase diagrams of the flow regimes for different types of grains can be universally presented as functions of the flow rate and the granular-bed thickness when the two quantities are properly renormalized. We further reveal that the meandering shapes are self-similar as was shown for meanderingrivers. The experimental findings are explained by theory, with elucidating the physics. The theory is based on force balance, a minimum-dissipation principle, and a linear-instability analysis of a continuum equation that takes into account the fluid-solid duality, i.e., the existence of fluidized and solidified regions of grains along the meandering path. The present results provide fruitful links to related issues in various fields, including fluidized bed reactors in industry. PMID:27941823

Meandering instability is familiar to everyone through rivermeandering or small rivulets of rain flowing down a windshield. However, its physical understanding is still premature, although it could inspire researchers in various fields, such as nonlinear science, fluid mechanics and geophysics, to resolve their long-standing problems. Here, we perform a small-scale experiment in which air flow is created in a thin granular bed to successfully find a meandering regime, together with other remarkable fluidized regimes, such as a turbulent regime. We discover that phase diagrams of the flow regimes for different types of grains can be universally presented as functions of the flow rate and the granular-bed thickness when the two quantities are properly renormalized. We further reveal that the meandering shapes are self-similar as was shown for meanderingrivers. The experimental findings are explained by theory, with elucidating the physics. The theory is based on force balance, a minimum-dissipation principle, and a linear-instability analysis of a continuum equation that takes into account the fluid-solid duality, i.e., the existence of fluidized and solidified regions of grains along the meandering path. The present results provide fruitful links to related issues in various fields, including fluidized bed reactors in industry.

Knowledge of salmonid life history types at the watershed scale is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone for effective management. In this study, we used radiotelemetry to characterize the life history movements of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in the upper Yellowstone River, an extensive tributary that composes nearly half of the drainage area of Yellowstone Lake. In Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout have precipitously declined over the past 2 decades primarily due to predation from introduced Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush. Radio tags were implanted in 152 Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout, and their movements monitored over 3 years. Ninety-six percent of tagged trout exhibited a lacustrine–adfluvial life history, migrating upstream a mean distance of 42.6 km to spawn, spending an average of 24 d in the Yellowstone River before returning to Yellowstone Lake. Once in the lake, complex postspawning movements were observed. Only 4% of radio-tagged trout exhibited a fluvial or fluvial–adfluvial life history. Low prevalence of fluvial and fluvial–adfluvial life histories was unexpected given the large size of the upper river drainage. Study results improve understanding of life history diversity in potamodromous salmonids inhabiting relatively undisturbed watersheds and provide a baseline for monitoring Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout response to management actions in Yellowstone Lake.

The annual migration of ∼1.2 million wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) through the Serengeti Mara Ecosystem is the largest remaining overland migration in the world. One of the most iconic portions of their migration is crossing of the Mara River, during which thousands drown annually. These mass drownings have been noted, but their frequency, size, and impact on aquatic ecosystems have not been quantified. Here, we estimate the frequency and size of mass drownings in the Mara River and model the fate of carcass nutrients through the river ecosystem. Mass drownings (>100 individuals) occurred in at least 13 of the past 15 y; on average, 6,250 carcasses and 1,100 tons of biomass enter the river each year. Half of a wildebeest carcass dry mass is bone, which takes 7 y to decompose, thus acting as a long-term source of nutrients to the Mara River. Carcass soft tissue decomposes in 2-10 wk, and these nutrients are mineralized by consumers, assimilated by biofilms, transported downstream, or moved back into the terrestrial ecosystem by scavengers. These inputs comprise 34-50% of the assimilated diet of fish when carcasses are present and 7-24% via biofilm on bones after soft tissue decomposition. Our results show a terrestrial animal migration can have large impacts on a river ecosystem, which may influence nutrient cycling and river food webs at decadal time scales. Similar mass drownings may have played an important role in rivers throughout the world when large migratory herds were more common features of the landscape.

As a drainage system located in arid western China, the Shiyang River, combined with considerable fluvial strata and landform information, provides an environmental context within which to investigate fluvial responses to late Quaternary climate change. Sedimentological analysis and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating enabled us to reconstruct the processes and fluvial styles of three sedimentary sequences of the Shagou and Hongshui rivers in the Shiyang drainage system. Our results present a variety of river behaviors during the late Quaternary in these areas. In the upstream Shiyang River, Zhangjiadazhuang (ZJDZ) profile of the Shagou was dominated by aggradation and a meandering channel pattern at 10.6-4.2 ka, while a noticeable channel incision occurred at ~ 4.2 ka followed by lateral channel migration. In the downstream Shiyang River, Datugou (DTG) profile of the Hongshui was an aggrading meanderingriver from 39.7 to 7.2 ka while channel incision occurred at 7.2 ka. Another downstream profile, Wudunwan (WDW) of the Hongshui was also characterized by aggradation from 22.4 to 4.8 ka; however, its channel pattern shifted from braided to meandering at ~ 13 ka. A discernable downcutting event occurred at ~ 4.8 ka, followed by three channel aggradation and incision episodes prior to 1.8 ka. The last 1.8 ka has been characterized by modern channel and floodplain development. The fluvial processes and styles investigated have a close correlation with late Quaternary climate change in the Shiyang River drainage. During cold phases, the WDW reach was dominated by aggradation with a braided channel pattern. During warm phases, the rivers that we investigated were also characterized by aggradation but with meandering channel patterns. Channel incision events and changes of fluvial style occurred mainly during climate transitions.

In salmonids with partial migration, females are more likely than males to undergo smoltification and migrate to the ocean (vs. maturing in freshwater). However, it is not known whether sex affects survivorship during smolt migration (from fresh water to entry into the ocean). We captured wild steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts in two coastal Oregon rivers (USA) and collected fin tissue samples for genetic sex determination (2009; N = 70 in the Alsea and N = 69 in the Nehalem, 2010; N = 25 in the Alsea). We implanted acoustic tags and monitored downstream migration and survival until entry in to the Pacific Ocean. Survival was defined as detection at an estuary/ocean transition array. We found no effect of sex on smolt survivorship in the Nehalem River in 2009, or in the Alsea River in 2010. However, males exhibited significantly lower survival than females in the Alsea River during 2009. Residency did not influence this result as an equal proportion of males and females did not reach the estuary entrance (11% of males, 9% of females). The sexes did not differ in timing or duration of migration, so those variables seem unlikely to explain sex-biased survivorship. Larger males had higher odds of survival than smaller males in 2009, but the body size of females did not affect survivorship. The difference in survivorship between years in the Alsea River could be due to flow conditions, which were higher in 2010 than in 2009. Our findings suggest that sex may affect steelhead smolt survival during migration, but that the difference in survivorship may be weak and not a strong factor influencing adult sex ratios.

River systems are vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and will often harbor populations deviating markedly from simplified theoretical models. We investigated fine-scale population structure in the sedentary river fish Cottus gobio using microsatellites and compared migration estimates from three FST estimators, a coalescent maximum-likelihood method and Bayesian recent migration analyses. Source-sink structure was evident via asymmetry in migration and genetic diversity with smaller upstream locations emigration biased and larger downstream subpopulations immigration biased. Patterns of isolation by distance suggested that the system was largely, but not entirely, in migration-drift equilibrium, with headwater populations harboring a signal of past colonizations and in some cases also recent population bottlenecks. Up- vs. downstream asymmetry in population structure was partly attributable to the effects of flow direction, but was enhanced by weirs prohibiting compensatory upstream migration. Estimators of migration showed strong correspondence, at least in relative terms, especially if pairwise FST was used as an indirect index of relative gene flow rather than being translated to Nm. Since true parameter values are unknown in natural systems, comparisons among estimators are important, both to determine confidence in estimates of migration and to validate the performance of different methods.

The survival of hatchery-origin juvenile coho salmon from the Trinity River Hatchery was estimated as they migrated seaward through the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. The purpose of the study was to collect data for comparison to a similar study in the Klamath River and provide data to the Trinity River Restoration Program. A total of 200 fish fitted with radio transmitters were released into the Trinity River near the hatchery (river kilometer 252 from the mouth of the Klamath River) biweekly from March 19 to May 28, 2008. Fish from the earliest release groups took longer to pass the first detection site 10 kilometers downstream of the hatchery than fish from the later release groups, but travel times between subsequent sites were often similar among the release groups. The travel times of individuals through the 239 kilometer study area ranged from 15.5 to 84.6 days with a median of 43.3 days. The data and models did not support differences in survival among release groups, but did support differences among river reaches. The probability of survival in the first 53 kilometers was lower than in the reaches farther downstream, which is similar to trends in juvenile coho salmon in the Klamath River. The lowest estimated survival in this study was in the first 10 kilometers from release in the Trinity River (0.676 SE 0.036) and the highest estimated survival was in the final 20 kilometer reach in the Klamath River (0.987 SE 0.013). Estimated survivals of radio-tagged juvenile coho salmon from release to Klamath River kilometer 33 were 0.639 per 100 kilometers for Trinity River fish and 0.721 per 100 kilometers for Klamath River fish.

The movements of 28 adult chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum) tagged with electromyogram (EMG) transmitters were tracked along the Toyohira river, Hokkaido, Japan, in October of 2007 and 2008 to investigate and evaluate the upstream migratory behavior through the protection bed and fishway of ground sills. The approach time of fish that ascended successfully through the protection bed and fishway was shorter than that of unsuccessful fish. The unsuccessful fish were observed to swim in currents with high water velocity and shallow water depth at swimming speeds that exceeded their critical swimming speed (U (crit)) during the approach to these structures. In consequence, unsuccessful fish frequently alternated between burst and maximum sustained speeds without ever ascending the fishway, and eventually became exhausted. It is important that fishway are constructed to enable chum salmon to find a passage way easily, so that they can migrate upstream rapidly without wasting excessive energy.

Bacterial kidney disease (BKD) is an important contributor to mortality of salmonids in hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. However, the impact of BKD on the survival of downstream migrants is difficult to determine because there is little information on the disease-related mortality among these fish. In this study, the impact of BKD on juvenile salmonids was examined by determining the percentage of downriver migrants infected with Renibacterium salmoninarum (the causative agent of BKD) and evaluating the effects of salt water on the progress of the disease. During the 2 years of this study, approximately 20% of the three species of migrating hatchery and wild salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) collected were infected with R. salmoninarum. Mortality caused by BKD increased when fish were held in salt water.

The Mond River, which is considered as one of the Major Iranian rivers discharging in to the Persian Gulf, is bounded within the region from 51°10' to 54°28' E and 27°20' to 29°51' N, flowing in two provinces of Fars and Boushehr. The latest part of the river is completely meandered and the river mouth has been migrating twice during the past 50 years. Total sediment discharge of the river is estimated as 12 million cubic meter per year. Analysis of meanderingriver phenomenon and river mouth migration as well as evolution of the down-stream sand spits has long been one of the challenges in hydrodynamic discussions. This natural process usually takes place in rivers to provide energy equilibrium and its integration with human desires has posed as a management issue. The sediment discharging to the Persian Gulf plays an essential role in formation of Mond River Delta as well as a set of sand spits formed in downstream of the river mouth. The morpho-dynamic of entire environment of the Mond River - Mond Delta highly affects marine environment in the surrounding area. The present study offers the results of a numerical and field investigation of various features of river-delta interaction on Ziarat Estuary and the Mond Delta area. A numerical model has been utilized to investigate cases of flow and sediment transport behaviour in the coastal Mond area and future migration patterns of the River Mouth is estimated. Sediment sources and relevant contributions in morphodynamic changes of the sand spits are widely investigated through sediment constituent analysis. The results of the numerical model are compared with field observations and comprehensive GIS based analysis of historic shoreline changes from aerial photos and satellite imagery. It is concluded that the model achievements are capable to predict the observed phenomena. Management guidelines and suggestions are deducted and drawn from the calibration and verification of the results with field observations

Abstract - This annual study has been conducted, since 1987, on two coastal streams, in order to observe the different trend patterns of juvenile out migrations for coho salmon and steelhead-trout, figure 1. Analysis of the 1993 trapping season indicates, at Little River, a decrease of steelhead-trout yearlings but an increase in coho ""y+"". Coho...

Investigation of low-wind cases observed during the Urban Turbulent Project campaign (Torino, Italy) and at the Santa Maria meteorological station (Santa Maria, Brazil) provides insight into the wind-meandering phenomenon, i.e. large, non-turbulent oscillations of horizontal wind speed and temperature. Meandering and non-meandering cases are identified through analysis of the Eulerian autocorrelation functions of the horizontal wind-velocity components and temperature. When all three autocorrelation functions oscillate, meandering is present. As with weak turbulence, meandering shows no dependence on stability but is influenced by presence of buildings and depends on wind speed. We show that, while the standard deviation of the horizontal velocity is always large in low-wind conditions, the standard deviation of the vertical velocity shows very different behaviour in meandering and non-meandering conditions. In particular, the value of the ratio of the standard deviations of the vertical and horizontal velocities typifies the meandering condition.

This study examined the environmental consequences of forced migration in the Matam and Podor regions of the Middle Senegal River Valley, Senegal. The analysis was based on a framework offered by Black (1994) and Leach (1992). This framework posits that: 1) refugees in a zone increase population/resource ratios and that resource accounting must consider the extent of renewable resources, the use of stocks of fixed capital, the extent to which resource use generates technological or socioeconomic changes which influence the ratios, and geographic area; 2) refugees tend to be "exceptional resource degraders"; and 3) refugees may ignore or be excluded from sustainable resource use regulations. The study area in the Senegal River Valley had Mauritanian refugees in 1989. The number of refugees was an estimated 67,800 in 1995, of which 47,000 were in the study area. The study region had experienced severe drought during the 1970s and early 1980s, had experienced acute pressure on the land and forest resources, and was experiencing conflicts between farmers and pastoralists. The Mauritanian migrants were not exceptional, but were a third wave of movements in the Middle Valley. The negative environmental impacts of forced migration were minimized by the scattered sites of settlement and the long history of contact between the two sides of the border. Refugees did not use resources in a more destructive or wasteful way than local populations and were not exceptional resource degraders. Environmental degradation is attributed to prior drought, actions by governmental and nongovernmental agencies, and actions by strangers from the south.

Erosional river networks dissect much of Earth's surface into drainage basins. Global scaling laws such as Hack's Law suggest that river basins trend toward a particular scale-invariant shape. While erosional instabilities arising from competition between advective and diffusive processes can explain why headwaters branch, the erosional mechanics linking larger scale network branching with evolution towards a characteristic river basin shape remain poorly constrained. We map river steepness and a proxy for the steady-state elevation of river networks, χ, in simulated and real landscapes with a large range in spatial scale (102 -106 m) but with similar inclined, planar surfaces at the time of incipient network formation. We document that the evolution from narrow rill-like networks to dendritic, leaf-shaped river basins follows from drainage area differences between catchments. These serve as instabilities that grow, leading to divide migration, stream capture, lateral branching and network reorganization. As Horton hypothesized, incipient networks formed down gradient on an inclined, planar surface have an unequal distribution of drainage area and nonuniformity in response times such that larger basins erode more rapidly and branch laterally via capture of adjacent streams with lower erosion rates. Positive feedback owing to increase in drainage area furthers the process of branching at the expense of neighboring rivers. We show that drainage area exchange and the degree of network reorganization has a significant effect on river steepness in the Dragon's Back Pressure Ridge, CA, the Sierra Nevada, CA, and the Rocky Mountain High Plains, USA. Similarly, metrics of basin shape reveal that basins are evolving from narrow basins towards more common leaf shapes. Our results suggest that divide migration and stream capture driven by erosional disequilibrium could be fundamental processes by which river basins reach their characteristic geometry and dendritic form.

Although off-channel habitats in the estuaries of large rivers impart many benefits to fish that rear within them, it is less clear how these habitats benefit migrating anadromous species that utilize these habitats for short periods of time. We evaluated the physiological correlates (nutritional condition, growth, and smoltification) of habitat utilization (main-channel vs. off-channel) by juvenile Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha during emigration. Fish from the off-channel had higher condition factor scores and relative weights than fish from the main-channel throughout the study period. Plasma triglyceride and protein concentrations were significantly different between habitat types and across the sampling period, suggesting that fish utilizing the off-channel habitats were compensating for energy losses associated with emigration as compared to main-channel fish. Growth potential (RNA to DNA ratio) did not vary by habitat or sampling period, presumably due to short residency time. There were no differences in osmoregulatory capacity (gill Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity) based on habitat type. Our results indicate that short-term off-channel habitat use may mitigate for energy declines incurred during migration, but likely does not impart significant gains in energy stores or growth. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Consumption of chlorinated drinking water is suspected to be associated with adverse health effects, including mutations and cancer. In the present study, the genotoxic potential of water from Donghu lake, Yangtze river and Hanjiang river in Wuhan, an 8-million metropolis in China, was investigated using HepG2 cells and the alkaline version of the comet assay. It could be shown that all water extracts caused dose-dependent DNA migration in concentrations corresponding to dried extracts of 0.167-167 ml chlorinated drinking water per ml medium. To explore whether the intracellular redox status is regulated by chlorinated drinking water, we determined lipid peroxidation (LPO) and depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH). The malondialdehyde (thiobarbituric acid (TBA)-reactive aldehydes) concentration increased after chlorinated drinking water treatment of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, the GSH content decreased. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) increased in chlorinated drinking water treated HepG2 cells indicating cytotoxicity. In accordance with former studies which dealt with in vivo and in vitro micronucleus induction the present study shows that chlorinated drinking water from polluted raw water may entail genetic risks.

Off-channel areas (side channels, tidal flats, sand bars, and shallow-water bays) may serve as important migration corridors through estuarine environments for salmon and steelhead smolts. Relatively large percentages (21-33%) of acoustic-tagged yearling and subyearling Chinook salmon and steelhead smolts were detected migrating through off-channel areas of the Columbia River estuary in 2008. The probability of survival for off-channel migrants (0.78-0.94) was similar to or greater than the survival probability of main channel migrants (0.67-0.93). Median travel times were similar for all species or run types and migration pathways we examined, ranging from 1-2 d. The route used by smolts to migrate through the estuary may affect their vulnerability to predation. Acoustic-tagged steelhead that migrated nearest to avian predator nesting colonies experienced higher predation rates (24%) than those that migrated farthest from the colonies (10%). The use of multiple migration pathways may be advantageous to out-migrating smolts because it helps to buffer against high rates of mortality, which may occur in localized areas, and helps to minimize inter- and intraspecific competition.

Rates of bedrock erosion by ingrown meanderingrivers can be inferred from the location of buried relict flood-plain and river-bank surfaces, associated paleosols, and radiocarbon dates. Two independent methods are used to evaluate the long-term rates of limestone bedrock erosion by the Duck River. Radiocarbon dates on samples retrieved from buried Holocene flood-plain and bank surfaces indicate lateral migration of the river bank at average rates of 0.6 1.9 m/100 yr. Such rates agree with lateral bedrock cliff erosion rates of 0.5 1.4 m/100 yr, as determined from a comparison of late Pleistocene and modern bedrock cliff and terrace scarp positions. These results show that lateral bedrock erosion by this river could have occurred coevally with flood-plain and terrace formation and that the resulting evolution of valley meander bends carved into bedrock is similar in many respects to that of channel meanders cut into alluvium.

Rates of bedrock erosion in ingrown meanderingrivers can be inferred from the location of buried relict flood-plain and river-bank surfaces, associated paleosols, and radiocarbon dates. Two independent methods are used to evaluate the long-term rates of limestone bedrock erosion by the Duck River. Radiocarbon dates on samples retrieved from buried Holocene flood-plain and bank surfaces indicate lateral migration of the river bank at average rates of 0.6-1.9 m/100 yr. Such rates agree with lateral bedrock cliff erosion rates of 0.5-1.4 m/100 yr, as determined from a comparison of late Pleistocene and modern bedrock cliff and terrace scarp positions. These results show that lateral bedrock erosion by this river could have occurred coevally with flood-plain and terrace formation and that the resulting evolution of valley meander bends carved into bedrock is similar in many respects to that of channel meanders cut into alluvium. 11 references, 5 figures.

We conducted laboratory experiments with Volga River Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, to develop a conceptual model of early behavior. We daily observed fish from day-0 (embryos, first life interval after hatching) to day-29 feeding larvae for preference of bright habitat and cover, swimming distance above the bottom, up- and downstream movement, and diel activity. Hatchling embryos initiated a downstream migration, which suggests that predation risk of embryos at spawning sites is high. Migration peaked on days 0-5 and ceased on day 7 (8-day migration). Migrants preferred bright, open habitat and early migrants swam-up far above the bottom (maximum daily median, 140 cm) in a vertical swim tube. Post-migrant embryos did not prefer bright illumination but continued to prefer white substrate, increased use of cover habitat, and swam on the bottom. Larvae initiated feeding on day 10 after 170.6 cumulative temperature degree-days. Larvae did not migrate, weakly preferred bright illumination, preferred white substrate and open habitat, and swam near the bottom (daily median 5-78 cm). The lack of a strong preference by larvae for bright illumination suggests foraging relies more on olfaction than vision for locating prey. A short migration by embryos would disperse wild sturgeon from a spawning area, but larvae did not migrate, so a second later migration by juveniles disperses young sturgeon to the sea (2-step migration). Embryo and larva body color was light tan and tail color was black. The migration, behavior, and light body color of Russian sturgeon embryos was similar to species of Acipenser and Scaphirhynchus in North America and to Acipenser in Asia that migrate after hatching as embryos. The similarity in migration style and body color among species with diverse phylogenies likely reflects convergence for common adaptations across biogeographic regions. ?? 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Mathematical models of horizontal distribution and migration of radionuclides are presented in water and floodplain soils of the Samson-Lev-Vandras river system related to the Ob-Irtysh river basin. Integral inventory of radionuclides in the main components of the river ecosystems is calculated. The estimated annual discharge of radionuclides from the Vandras river to the Great Salym river is given. The effect of the removal of man-made radionuclides in the Samson, Lev, Vandras rivers on radioactive contamination of the Ob-Irtysh river system is shown in comparison with the Techa river, that also belongs to the Ob-Irtysh river basin. Despite the presence of an additional radioactive contamination of the Samson floodplain, the transfer of radioactive substances in the Samson, Lev, Vandras rivers has a much smaller impact on the contamination of the Ob-Irtysh river system, compared to the Techa river, prone to a large-scale radioactive contamination.

Quantifying planform changes of large and actively migratingrivers such as those in the tropical Amazon at multidecadal time scales, over large spatial domains, and with high spatiotemporal frequency is essential for advancing river morphodynamic theory, identifying controls on migration, and understanding the roles of climate and human influences on planform adjustments. This paper addresses the challenges of quantifying river planform changes from annual channel masks derived from Landsat imagery and introduces a set of efficient methods to map and measure changes in channel widths, the locations and rates of migration, accretion and erosion, and the space-time characteristics of cutoff dynamics. The techniques are assembled in a comprehensive MATLAB toolbox called RivMAP (River Morphodynamics from Analysis of Planforms), which is applied to over 1500 km of the actively migrating and predominately meandering Ucayali River in Peru from 1985 to 2015. We find multiscale spatial and temporal variability around multidecadal trends in migration rates, erosion and accretion, and channel widths revealing a river dynamically adjusting to sediment and water fluxes. Confounding factors controlling planform morphodynamics including local inputs of sediment, cutoffs, and climate are parsed through the high temporal analysis.

Stream morphological features, in combination with hydrological variability play a key role in water and solute exchange across surface and subsurface waters. Meanders are prominent morphological features within stream systems which exhibit unique hydrodynamics. The water surface elevation difference across the inner bank of a meander induces lateral hyporheic exchange within the intra-meander region. This hyporheic flow is characterized by considerably prolonged flow paths and residence times (RT) compared to smaller scales of hyporheic exchange. In this study we examine the impact of different meander geometries on the intra-meander hyporheic flow field and solute mobilization under both steady state and transient flow conditions. We developed a number of artificial meander shape scenarios, representing various meander evolution stages, ranging from a typical initial to advanced stage (near cut off ) meander. Three dimensional steady state numerical groundwater flow simulations including the unsaturated zone were performed for the intra-meander region. The meandering stream was implemented in the model by adjusting the top layers of the modelling domain to the streambed elevation and assigning linearly decreasing head boundary conditions to the streambed cells. Residence times for the intra-meander region were computed by advective particle tracking across the inner bank of meander. Selected steady state cases were extended to transient flow simulations to evaluate the impact of stream discharge events on the temporal behavior of the water exchange and solute transport in the intra-meander region. The transient stream discharge was simulated for a number of discharge events of variable duration and peak height using the surface water model HEC-RAS. Transient hydraulic heads obtained from the surface water model were applied as transient head boundary conditions to the streambed cells of the groundwater model. A solute concentration source was added in the

Particle-based numerical methods, such as Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), may be able to simulate some hydrodynamic and morphodynamic behaviors better than grid-based numerical methods. This study simulates hydrodynamics in meanders and advection and turbulent diffusion in straight river channels using Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic. The simulators generate three-dimensional data for hydrodynamics and one-dimensional data for advection-turbulent diffusion. Fluid at rest, sloshing, and helical flow are simulated in the rivermeanders. Spill loading and step loading are done to simulate concentration patterns associated with advection-turbulent diffusion. Results indicate that helical flow is formed due to disturbance in morphology and particle velocity in the stream and the number of particles does not have a significant effect on the pattern of advection-turbulent diffusion concentration.

Coastal cutthroat trout Onchorhynchus clarkii clarkii life-history variants, migration and freshwater residency were monitored using stationary passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag arrays in two tributaries of the Columbia River from 2001 to 2005 (Abernathy Creek, river kilometre, rkm 76) and from 2002 to 2005 (Chinook River, rkm 6). In 2001-2003 and 2002-2003 (Abernathy and Chinook, respectively), 300-500 coastal O. c. clarkii were captured in each tributary by electrofishing and implanted with 23 mm PIT tags. PIT arrays monitored movements from the initiation of tagging through the spring of 2005. Rotary screw traps were also operated on both tributaries. In Abernathy Creek, 28% of tagged individuals were observed through either active capture or passive interrogation. Of these, 32% were identified as migrants and 68% were identified as residents. In the Chinook River, 48% of tagged fish were observed subsequent to tagging; 92% of these fish were migrants and only 8% were resident. In both tributaries, a greater proportion of resident fish were in the upper reaches. The majority of migrants (78-93%) moved the spring following tagging. Migrants leaving at age 2+ years tended to grow faster than those that migrated at age 3+ years or residents. Patterns of growth or growth opportunities may influence both patterns of life-history expression and the timing of migration. ?? 2009 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Coastal cutthroat trout Onchorhynchus clarkii clarkii life-history variants, migration and freshwater residency were monitored using stationary passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag arrays in two tributaries of the Columbia River from 2001 to 2005 (Abernathy Creek, river kilometre, rkm 76) and from 2002 to 2005 (Chinook River, rkm 6). In 2001-2003 and 2002-2003 (Abernathy and Chinook, respectively), 300-500 coastal O. c. clarkii were captured in each tributary by electrofishing and implanted with 23 mm PIT tags. PIT arrays monitored movements from the initiation of tagging through the spring of 2005. Rotary screw traps were also operated on both tributaries. In Abernathy Creek, 28% of tagged individuals were observed through either active capture or passive interrogation. Of these, 32% were identified as migrants and 68% were identified as residents. In the Chinook River, 48% of tagged fish were observed subsequent to tagging; 92% of these fish were migrants and only 8% were resident. In both tributaries, a greater proportion of resident fish were in the upper reaches. The majority of migrants (78-93%) moved the spring following tagging. Migrants leaving at age 2+ years tended to grow faster than those that migrated at age 3+ years or residents. Patterns of growth or growth opportunities may influence both patterns of life-history expression and the timing of migration.

Surubim, Pseudoplatystoma corruscans, is the most valuable commercial and recreational fish in the São Francisco River, but little is known about adult migration and spawning. Movements of 24 females (9.5–29.0 kg), which were radio-tagged just downstream of Três Marias Dam (TMD) at river kilometer 2,109 and at Pirapora Rapids (PR) 129 km downstream of TMD, suggest the following conceptual model of adult female migration and spawning. The tagged surubims used only 274 km of the main stem downstream of TMD and two tributaries, the Velhas and Abaeté rivers. Migration style was dualistic with non-migratory (resident) and migratory fish. Pre-spawning females swam at ground speeds of up to 31 km day-1 in late September–December to pre-spawning staging sites located 0–11 km from the spawning ground. In the spawning season (November–March), pre-spawning females migrated back and forth from nearby pre-spawning staging sites to PR for short visits to spawn, mostly during floods. Multiple visits to the spawning site suggest surubim is a multiple spawner. Most post-spawning surubims left the spawning ground to forage elsewhere, but some stayed at the spawning site until the next spawning season. Post-spawning migrants swam up or downstream at ground speeds up to 29 km day-1 during January–March. Construction of proposed dams in the main stem and tributaries downstream of TMD will greatly reduce surubim abundance by blocking migrations and changing the river into reservoirs that eliminate riverine spawning and non-spawning habitats, and possibly, cause extirpation of populations.

Stream restoration projects often involve constructing single-thread meandering channels, and their success requires understanding the conditions necessary to develop and maintain a meandering pattern. Empirical studies indicate that meandering channels occur under a specific range of width-depth ratio, slope and Froude number. We hypothesize, however, that meanderingrivers also require: 1) bank strength from either cohesive material or vegetation, 2) overbank flows to attach bars to their floodplains, and 3) fine sediment to fill the downstream end of bars and chutes. These latter conditions place significant additional constraints in gravel bedded channels, especially ones designed to be self-maintaining while laterally shifting. We tested whether these conditions were sufficient in a sand-bedded laboratory flume using alfalfa as model vegetation and a non- cohesive lightweight plastic as fine sediment. We conducted two experiments in a 6.1 m wide and 17 m long basin with a valley slope of 0.0046. The first experiment was conducted with a two-stage hydrograph with a bankfull flow of 1.8 l/s and an overbank flow of 2.7 l/s. Prior to the first experiment, we carved a channel with an initial geometry of 1.9 cm deep and of 40 cm wide. The second experiment began with the final morphology from the first experiment, and had a steady 1.8 l/s flow. We were able to create and maintain a meandering channel during both experiments. The channel maintained a meandering morphology for over 71 hours during the first experiment and an additional 35 hours to date during the steady experiment without the channel braiding. The alfalfa sprouts slowed down bank erosion enough to allow bars to grow to the elevation of the floodplain, and the fine sediment plugged chutes at the upstream end of bars. During the first experiment, the width initially increased, but then stabilized as the bars grew vertically. The width depth ratio had returned to its original value (21) by 51 hours, just

Upstream migration of fish schools in 1-D rivers as an optimal control problem is formulated where their swimming velocity and the horizontal oblateness are taken as control variables. The objective function to be maximized through a migration process consists of the biological and ecological profit to be gained at the upstream-end of a river, energetic cost of swimming against the flow, and conceptual cost of forming a school. Under simplified conditions where the flow is uniform in both space and time and the profit to be gained at the goal of migration is sufficiently large, the optimal control variables are determined from a system of algebraic equations that can be solved in a cascading manner. Mathematical analysis of the system reveals that the optimal controls are uniquely found and the model is exactly solvable under certain conditions on the functions and parameters, which turn out to be realistic and actually satisfied in experimental fish migration. Identification results of the functional shapes of the functions and the parameters with experimentally observed data of swimming schools of Plecoglossus altivelis (Ayu) validate the present mathematical model from both qualitative and quantitative viewpoints. The present model thus turns out to be consistent with the reality, showing its potential applicability to assessing fish migration in applications.

The study investigated the degradation behaviors of swine farm tetracyclines (TCs) at a catchment scale and explored whether multi-pond systems could be beneficial to the interception of TCs so as to reduce the pollution risk to receiving rivers. The occurrence and migration of 12 kinds of tetracycline antibiotics, including their degradation products, were studied in four swine farms of the Meijiang River basin in China. The migration paths of the TCs were examined through sampling and analyzing the soil and/or sediment at different points along the swine wastewater outlet, which included sewer, sewage pond, mixed-canal (stream and sewage), farmland (paddy and upland soil) and finally the river. TC concentrations of all collected samples were obtained by solid phase extraction followed by measurement with high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that sediment TC concentrations varied greatly in different swine farms, from mg·kg(-1) to μg·kg(-1) levels. TCs had different decay patterns along different migration paths, such that TCs decayed exponentially in paddy soil, while linearly in sewer and mixed canal. The concentrations of TCs and their degradation products decreased in the order: sewer sediment > sewage pond sediment > mixed-canal sediment > paddy soil > upland soil, indicating that TCs tend to be more easily intercepted and accumulated in water-sediment systems such as ponds. Therefore, the multi-pond system could be an effective way to prevent TCs from migrating into rivers. These results provided essential information for contamination control of antibiotics in aquatic environments.

Populations of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Yukon River declined by more than 57% between 2003 and 2010, probably the result of a combination of anthropogenic and environmental factors. One possible contributor to this decline is Ichthyophonus, a mesomycetozoan parasite that has previously been implicated in significant losses of fish, including Chinook salmon. A multiyear epidemiological study of ichthyophoniasis in the Yukon River revealed that disease prevalence and Chinook salmon population abundance increased and decreased simultaneously (i.e., were concordant) from 1999 to 2010. The two values rose and fell synchronously 91% of the time for female Chinook salmon and 82% of the time for males; however, there was no significant correlation between Ichthyophonus prevalence and population abundance. This synchronicity might be explained by a single factor, such as a prey item that is critical to Chinook salmon survival as well as a source of Ichthyophonus infection. The host–parasite relationship between Ichthyophonus and migrating Chinook salmon from 2004 to 2010 was similar to that reported for the previous 5 years. During 2004–2010, overall disease prevalence was significantly higher among females (21%) than among males (8%), increased linearly with fish length for both males and females, and increased in both sexes as the fish progressed upriver. These regularly occurring features of host–parasite dynamics confirm a stable base of transmission for Ichthyophonus. However, from 2003 to 2010, disease prevalence decreased from 30% to just 8% in males and from 45% to 9% in females, paralleling a similar decline in Chinook salmon abundance during the same period. These findings may help clarify questions regarding the complex host–parasite dynamics that occur in marine species such as herrings Clupea spp., which have less well-defined population structures.

The Upper Mississippi River is thought to provide important stopover habitat for migrating landbirds because of its north-south orientation and floodplain forests. The river flows through the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota where forests are plentiful, yet forests of the floodplain and Driftless Area uplands differ greatly in landscape setting, tree species composition, and topography. We compared landbird assemblages in these upland and floodplain forests over three springs, 2005–2007, using line-transect surveys at randomly selected areas in and within 16 km of the floodplain. We found more species of both transient and locally breeding migrants per survey in floodplain than in upland forest. Detections of transient neotropical migrants did not differ statistically by habitat. Detections of locally breeding neotropical and temperate-zone migrants and transient temperate-zone migrants were greater in floodplain than in upland forest. Between floodplain and upland forest, assemblages of locally breeding species, including neotropical and temperate-zone migrants (of which some individuals were in transit), differed substantially, but assemblages of transients (including both neotropical and temperate-zone migrants) did not differ as much. Only two species of transient migrants had clear affinities for floodplain forest, and none had an affinity for upland forest, whereas most locally breeding migrants had an affinity for either upland or floodplain forest. Within each spring, however, detections of transient neotropical migrants shifted from being greater in floodplain to greater in upland forests. This intraseasonal shift may be related to the phenology of certain tree species.

Riparian vegetation interacts with morphodynamic processes in rivers to create distinct habitat mosaics supporting a large biodiversity. The aim of our work is to quantitatively investigate the emergent patterns in vegetation and river morphology at the river reach scale by dynamically modelling the processes and their interactions. Here, we coupled an advanced morphodynamic model to a novel dynamic riparian vegetation model to study the interaction between vegetation and morphodynamics. Vegetation colonizes bare substrate within the seed dispersal window, passes several growth stages with different properties and can die through flooding, desiccation, uprooting, scour or burial. We have compared river morphology and vegetation patterns of scenarios without vegetation, with static vegetation that does not grow or die and several dynamic vegetation scenarios with a range of vegetation strategies and eco-engineering properties. Results show that dynamic vegetation has a decreased lateral migration of meander bends and maintains its active meandering behavior as opposed to the scenarios without vegetation and with static vegetation. Also the patterns in vegetation and fluvial morphology and the vegetation age distribution mostly resemble the natural situation when compared to aerial photos of the study area. We find that river dynamics, specifically sinuosity and sediment transport, are very sensitive to vegetation properties that determine vegetation density, settlement location and survival. Future work will include the effects of invasive species, addition of silt and the effect of various river management strategies.

The floodplain along a 75-km segment of the Brazos River, traversing the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas, has a complex late Quaternary history. From 18,000 to 8500 yr B.P., the Brazos River was a competent meandering stream that migrated from one side of the floodplain to the other, creating a thick layer of coarse-grained lateral accretion deposits. After 8500 yr B.P., the hydrologic regime of the Brazos River changed. The river became an underfit meandering stream that repeatedly became confined within narrow and unstable meander belts that would occasionally avulse. Avulsion occurred four times; first at 8100 yr B.P., then at 2500 yr B.P., again around 500 yr B.P., and finally around 300 yr B.P. The depositional regime on the floodplain also changed after 8500 yr B.P., with floodplain construction dominated by vertical accretion. Most vertical accretion occurred from 8100 to 4200 yr B.P. and from 2500 to 1250 yr B.P. Two major and three minor periods of soil formation are documented in the floodplain sequence. The two most developed soils formed from 4200 to 2500 yr B.P. and from around 1250 to 500 yr B.P. These changes on the floodplain appear to be the result not of a single factor, but of the complex interplay among changes in climate, sediment yield, and intrinsic floodplain variables over time.

Summer temperatures in the Lower Snake River can be altered by releasing cold waters that originate from deep depths within Dworshak Reservoir. These cold releases are used to lower temperatures in the Clearwater and Lower Snake Rivers, and improve hydrodynamic and water quality conditions for migrating aquatic species. This project monitored the complex three-dimensional hydrodynamic and thermal conditions at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers and the processes that led to stratification of Lower Granite Reservoir (LGR) during the late spring, summer, and fall of 2002. Hydrodynamic, water quality, and meteorological conditions around the reservoir were monitored at frequent intervals, and this effort is currently continuing in 2003. Monitoring of the reservoir is a multi-year endeavor, and this report spans only the first year of data collection. In addition to monitoring the LGR environment, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model has also been applied. This model uses collected field data as boundary conditions and has been applied to the entire 2002 field season. Numerous data collection sites were within the model domain and serve as both calibration and validation locations for the numerical model. Errors between observed and simulated data vary in magnitude from location to location and from one time to another. Generally, errors are small and within expected ranges, although model parameters may be improved in the future to minimize differences between observed and simulated values as additional 2003 field data become available. A two-dimensional laterally-averaged hydrodynamic and water quality model was applied to the three reservoirs downstream of LGR (the pools behind Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor Dams). A two-dimensional model is appropriate for these reservoirs because observed lateral thermal variations during summer and fall 2002 were almost negligible, however vertical thermal variations were quite

In this research article, John Hamilton and his co-authors present extensive new research and information gathered since a 2005 publication on the historical evidence of anadromomous fish distribution in the Upper Klamath River watershed. Using historical accounts from early explorers and ethnographers to early-twentieth-century photographs, newspaper accounts, and government reports, the authors provide a more complete record of past salmon migrations. The updated record “substantiate[s] the historical persistence of salmon, their migration characteristics, and the broad population baseline that will be key to future commercial, recreational, and Tribal fisheries in the Klamath River and beyond.” During a time when salmon restoration plans are being considered in the region, the historical record can serve as guidance to once again establish diverse and thriving populations.

A cell of abnormally high fluid pressure in the deep part of the Powder River basin is centered in an area where oil-generation-prone source rocks in the Skull Creek (oldest), Mowry, and Niobrara (youngest) formations are presently at their maximum hydrocarbon-volume generation rate. The overpressures are believed to be caused by the high conversion rate of solid kerogen in the source rocks to an increased volume of potentially expellable fluid hydrocarbons. In this area, hydrocarbons appear to be the principal mobile fluid species present in reservoirs within or proximal to the actively generating source rocks. Maximum generation pressures within the source rocks have caused vertical expulsion through a pressure-induced microfracture system and have charged the first available underlying and/or overlying sandstone carrier-reservoir bed. Hydrocarbons generated in the Skull Creek have been expelled downward into the Dakota Sandstone and upward into the Muddy Sandstone. Hydrocarbons generated in the Mowry have been expelled downward into the Muddy or upward into lower Frontier sandstones. Hydrocarbons generated in the Niobrara have been expelled downward into upper Frontier sandstones or upward into the first available overlying sandstone in the Upper Cretaceous. The first chargeable sandstone overlying the Niobrara, in ascending order, may be the (1) Shannon, (2) Sussex, (3) Parkman, (4) Teapot, or (5) Tekla, depending on the east limit of each sandstone with respect to vertical fracture migration through the Cody Shale from the underlying area of mature overpressured Niobrara source rocks.

Fall and winter distribution patterns of canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) staging on the upper Mississippi River near LaCrosse, Wisconsin (navigational Pools 7 and 8) and Keokuk, Iowa (Pool 19) were studied during 1973-77. Sightings and recoveries obtained from 1,488 color-marked males during 1973-75 and 3,789 banded males and females during 1973-77 suggested 2 principal migration corridors: 1 extending eastward from Pools 7 and 8 to the eastern Great Lakes and southeast to the Mid-Atlantic Region and another southward from Pools 7 and 8 to the lower Mississippi Valley, Gulf Coast, and east Texas regions. These discrete populations stage concurrently on Pools 7 and 8 during the fall, but winter in different areas of the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Central flyways. Populations staging on Pool 19 were not discrete from those staging on Pools 7 and 8. A continual turnover of birds passing through these staging areas was indicated. Canvasbacks wintering in the Mississippi and Central flyways were widely dispersed among a variety of habitats, whereas canvasbacks wintering in the Atlantic Flyway were concentrated in a few traditional habitats. Canvasbacks exhibited strong fidelity to wintering areas. Distribution patterns and population attributes of canvasbacks during fall and winter may be explained by the predictability of natural foods and their ability to exploit these foods.

A viscous thread falling from a nozzle onto a surface exhibits the famous rope-coiling effect, in which the thread buckles to form loops. If the surface is replaced by a belt moving with speed U , the rotational symmetry of the buckling instability is broken and a wealth of interesting states are observed [see S. Chiu-Webster and J. R. Lister, J. Fluid Mech. 569, 89 (2006)]. We experimentally studied this “fluid-mechanical sewing machine” in a more precise apparatus. As U is reduced, the steady catenary thread bifurcates into a meandering state in which the thread displacements are only transverse to the motion of the belt. We measured the amplitude and frequency ω of the meandering close to the bifurcation. For smaller U , single-frequency meandering bifurcates to a two-frequency “figure-8” state, which contains a significant 2ω component and parallel as well as transverse displacements. This eventually reverts to single-frequency coiling at still smaller U . More complex, highly hysteretic states with additional frequencies are observed for larger nozzle heights. We propose to understand this zoology in terms of the generic amplitude equations appropriate for resonant interactions between two oscillatory modes with frequencies ω and 2ω . The form of the amplitude equations captures both the axisymmetry of the U=0 coiling state and the symmetry-breaking effects induced by the moving belt.

A viscous thread falling from a nozzle onto a surface exhibits the famous rope-coiling effect, in which the thread buckles to form loops. If the surface is replaced by a belt moving with speed U , the rotational symmetry of the buckling instability is broken and a wealth of interesting states are observed [see S. Chiu-Webster and J. R. Lister, J. Fluid Mech. 569, 89 (2006)]. We experimentally studied this "fluid-mechanical sewing machine" in a more precise apparatus. As U is reduced, the steady catenary thread bifurcates into a meandering state in which the thread displacements are only transverse to the motion of the belt. We measured the amplitude and frequency omega of the meandering close to the bifurcation. For smaller U , single-frequency meandering bifurcates to a two-frequency "figure-8" state, which contains a significant 2omega component and parallel as well as transverse displacements. This eventually reverts to single-frequency coiling at still smaller U . More complex, highly hysteretic states with additional frequencies are observed for larger nozzle heights. We propose to understand this zoology in terms of the generic amplitude equations appropriate for resonant interactions between two oscillatory modes with frequencies omega and 2omega . The form of the amplitude equations captures both the axisymmetry of the U=0 coiling state and the symmetry-breaking effects induced by the moving belt.

This report provides information on PIT-tagging of wild Chinook salmon parr in Idaho in 2003 and the subsequent monitoring of these fish and similarly tagged fish from Oregon. We report estimated parr-to-smolt survival and arrival timing of these fish at Lower Granite Dam, as well as interrogation data collected at several other sites throughout the Snake and Columbia River system. This research continues studies that began under Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) funding in 1991. Results from previous study years were reported by Achord et al. (1994; 1995a,b; 1996a; 1997; 1998; 2000; 2001a,b; 2002, 2003, 2004). Goals of this ongoing study are: (1) Characterize the migration timing and estimate parr-to-smolt survival of different stocks of wild Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon smolts at Lower Granite Dam. (2) Determine whether consistent migration patterns are apparent. (3) Determine what environmental factors influence migration patterns. (4) Characterize the migration behavior and estimate survival of different wild juvenile fish stocks as they emigrate from their natal rearing areas. This study provides critical information for recovery planning, and ultimately recovery for these ESA-listed wild fish stocks. In 2003-2004, we also continued to measure water temperature, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, turbidity, water depth, and pH at five monitoring stations in the Salmon River Basin, Idaho for the Baseline Environmental Monitoring Program. These data, along with parr/smolt migration, survival, and timing data, will help to discern patterns or characteristic relationships between fish movement/survival and environmental factors.

This report documents a four-year study to assess hydraulic conditions in the lower Snake River. The work was conducted for the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Cold water released from the Dworshak Reservoir hypolimnion during mid- to late-summer months cools the Clearwater River far below equilibrium temperature. The volume of released cold water augments the Clearwater River, and the combined total discharge is on the order of the Snake River discharge when the two rivers meet at their confluence near the upstream edge of Lower Granite Reservoir. With typical temperature differences between the Clearwater and Snake rivers of 10 C or more during July and August, the density difference between the two rivers during summer flow augmentation periods is sufficient to stratify Lower Granite Reservoir as well as the other three reservoirs downstream. Because cooling of the river is desirable for migrating juvenile fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) during this same time period, the amount of mixing and cold water entrained into Lower Granite Reservoir's epilimnion at the Clearwater/Snake River confluence is of key biological importance. Data collected during this project indicates the three reservoirs downstream of Lower Granite also stratify as direct result of flow augmentation from Dworshak Reservoir. These four reservoirs are also heavily influenced by wind forcing at the water's surface and during periods of low river discharge often behave like a two-layer lake. During these periods of stratification, lower river discharge, and wind forcing, the water in the upper layer of the reservoir is held in place or moves slightly upstream. This upper layer is also exposed to surface heating and may warm up to temperatures close to equilibrium temperature. The thickness (depth) of this upper warm layer and its direction of travel may be of key biological importance to juvenile fall Chinook

This report details the 2002 results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior of wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts in the Snake River Basin. The report also discusses trends in the cumulative data collected for this project from Oregon and Idaho streams since 1989. The project was initiated after detection data from passive-integrated-transponder tags (PIT tags) had shown distinct differences in migration patterns between wild and hatchery fish for three consecutive years. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) investigators first observed these differences in 1989. The data originated from tagging and interrogation operations begun in 1988 to evaluate smolt transportation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1991, the Bonneville Power Administration began a cooperative effort with NMFS to expand tagging and interrogation of wild fish. Project goals were to characterize the outmigration timing of these fish, to determine whether consistent migration patterns would emerge, and to investigate the influence of environmental factors on the timing and distribution of these migrations. In 1992, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) began an independent program of PIT tagging wild chinook salmon parr in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River Basins in northeast Oregon. Since then, ODFW has reported all tagging, detection, and timing information on fish from these streams. However, with ODFW concurrence, NMFS will continue to report arrival timing of these fish at Lower Granite Dam.

Few studies have quantified near-bank turbulence at the field-scale in meander bends. As a result, details of the structure of turbulence at the outer bank of bends are poorly understood, despite recognized linkages among turbulence, bank erosion, and channel migration. This study uses high-frequency measurements of flow velocities to analyze the characteristics of turbulence in close proximity to the outer bank of an actively migrating compound meander bend. Results show that the structure of turbulence in the bend is linked to curvature-induced effects through the progressive advection of high momentum fluid toward the outer bank as flow moves through the bend. Vertical profiles of streamwise-vertical Reynolds stresses near the outer bank differ considerably from those in wide straight channels because of the effects both of curvature-induced helical motion and of local frictional effects associated with the complex bank morphology. The results of the study provide the basis for a conceptual model of the structure of outer bank turbulence in this meander bend.

In 2008, the National Marine Fisheries Service completed the sixteenth year of a study to estimate survival and travel time of juvenile salmonids Oncorhynchus spp. passing through dams and reservoirs on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. All estimates were derived from detections of fish tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. We PIT tagged and released a total of 18,565 hatchery steelhead O. mykiss, 15,991 wild steelhead, and 9,714 wild yearling Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha at Lower Granite Dam in the Snake River. In addition, we utilized fish PIT tagged by other agencies at traps and hatcheries upstream from the hydropower system and at sites within the hydropower system in both the Snake and Columbia Rivers. These included 122,061 yearling Chinook salmon tagged at Lower Granite Dam for evaluation of latent mortality related to passage through Snake River dams. PIT-tagged smolts were detected at interrogation facilities at Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, Ice Harbor, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville Dams and in the PIT-tag detector trawl operated in the Columbia River estuary. Survival estimates were calculated using a statistical model for tag-recapture data from single release groups (the single-release model). Primary research objectives in 2008 were to: (1) estimate reach survival and travel time in the Snake and Columbia Rivers throughout the migration period of yearling Chinook salmon and steelhead, (2) evaluate relationships between survival estimates and migration conditions, and (3) evaluate the survival estimation models under prevailing conditions. This report provides reach survival and travel time estimates for 2008 for PIT-tagged yearling Chinook salmon (hatchery and wild), hatchery sockeye salmon O. nerka, hatchery coho salmon O. kisutch, and steelhead (hatchery and wild) in the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Additional details on the methodology and statistical models used are provided in previous reports cited here. Survival

This report provides results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior and survival of wild juvenile spring/summer Chinook salmon in the Snake River Basin. Data reported is from detections of PIT tagged fish during late summer 2007 through mid-2008. Fish were tagged in summer 2007 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Idaho and by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in Oregon. Our analyses include migration behavior and estimated survival of fish at instream PIT-tag monitors and arrival timing and estimated survival to Lower Granite Dam. Principal results from tagging and interrogation during 2007-2008 are: (1) In July and August 2007, we PIT tagged and released 7,390 wild Chinook salmon parr in 12 Idaho streams or sample areas. (2) Overall observed mortality from collection, handling, tagging, and after a 24-hour holding period was 1.4%. (3) Of the 2,524 Chinook salmon parr PIT tagged and released in Valley Creek in summer 2007, 218 (8.6%) were detected at two instream PIT-tag monitoring systems in lower Valley Creek from late summer 2007 to the following spring 2008. Of these, 71.6% were detected in late summer/fall, 11.9% in winter, and 16.5% in spring. Estimated parr-to-smolt survival to Lower Granite Dam was 15.5% for the late summer/fall group, 48.0% for the winter group, and 58.5% for the spring group. Based on detections at downstream dams, the overall efficiency of VC1 (upper) or VC2 (lower) Valley Creek monitors for detecting these fish was 21.1%. Using this VC1 or VC2 efficiency, an estimated 40.8% of all summer-tagged parr survived to move out of Valley Creek, and their estimated survival from that point to Lower Granite Dam was 26.5%. Overall estimated parr-to-smolt survival for all summer-tagged parr from this stream at the dam was 12.1%. Development and improvement of instream PIT-tag monitoring systems continued throughout 2007 and 2008. (4) Testing of PIT-tag antennas in lower Big Creek during 2007

Along arctic coastlines, recent studies have attributed dramatic increases in the rates of shoreline erosion to global climate change and permafrost degradation. While across much of the arctic, changes in the size and number of lakes have been interpreted as the result of permafrost degradation altering surface water dynamics. The potential influence of climate change and permafrost thawing on the mobility and form of arctic rivers, however, has been relatively unexplored to date. In rivers located within permafrost, some to potentially most, of the cohesive bank strength may be derived from frozen materials. It is likely that, as permafrost thaws, river bank erosion may increase, in turn influencing both migration rates and channel planform. Using automated feature extraction software (GeniePro), we quantified the of the mobility of a 200 km reach of the Yukon River through the Yukon Flats region located just north of Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. The Yukon Flats is an area of comprised of both continuous and discontinuous permafrost. Based on both changes in lake distributions and wintertime river base flows, it has been suggested that permafrost in this area has been experiencing recent thawing. In this reach, the Yukon River transitions from a 2 km wide braided channel to a multi-thread meandering channel where individual threads are approximately 1 km wide and the floodplain preserves prior meander cutoffs and oxbow lakes. Preliminary results from thirty years of LANDSAT imagery shows a surprising stability of channel location (at the image resolution of 30m/pixel) given the channel form. Within the braid-belt there is localized relocation of channel threads and mid-channel islands, though along much of the reach, the change in the location of channels banks is close to the resolution of the imagery. At the most active bends, bank migration rates range from 0.007 to 0.02 channel widths per year. These rates are comparable to system wide average rates observed on

Walleye (Sander vitreus) in Lake Erie is a valuable and migratory species that spawns in tributaries. We used hydroacoustic sampling, gill net sampling, and Bayesian state-space modeling to estimate the spawning stock abundance, characterize size and sex structure, and explore environmental factors cuing migration of walleye in the Maumee River for 2011 and 2012. We estimated the spawning stock abundance to be between 431,000 and 1,446,000 individuals in 2011 and between 386,400 and 857,200 individuals in 2012 (95% Bayesian credible intervals). A back-calculation from a concurrent larval fish study produced an estimate of 78,000 to 237,000 spawners for 2011. The sex ratio was skewed towards males early in the spawning season but approached 1:1 later, and larger individuals entered the river earlier in the season than smaller individuals. Walleye migration was greater during low river discharge and intermediate temperatures. Our approach to estimating absolute abundance and uncertainty as well as characterization of the spawning stock could improve assessment and management of this species, and our methodology is applicable to other diadromous populations.

Recently acquired seismic, well, and regional geological data imply favorable conditions for the accumulation of oil and gas in the 20,000 km[sup 2] Sredne-Amursky basin. Major graben and northeast-trending sinistral wrench-fault systems are recognized in the basin. Lower and Upper Cretaceous sediments are up to 9000 and 3000 m thick, respectively. Paleogeographic reconstructions imply that during the Late Triassic-Early Cretaceous the Sredne-Amursky basin was part of a narrow marine embayment (back-arc basin), which was open to the north. During the Cretaceous, the region was part of a foreland basin complicated by strike-slip, which produced subsidence related to transtension during oblique collision of the Sikhote-Alin arc with Eurasian margin. Contemporaneous uplift also related to this collision migrated from south to north and may have sourced northward-directed deltas and alluvial fans, which fed northward into the closing back-arc basin between 130 and 85 Ma. The progradational clastic succession of the Berriasian-Albian and the Late Cretaceous fluvial, brackish water and paralic sediments within the basin may be analogous to the highly productive late Tertiary clastics of the Amur River delta in the northeast Sakhalin basin. Cretaceous-Tertiary lacustrine-deltaic sapropelic shales provide significant source and seal potential and potential reservoirs occur in the Cretaceous and Tertiary. Structural plays were developed during Cretaceous rifting and subsequent strike-slip deformation. If the full hydrocarbon potential of the Sredne-Amursky basin is to be realized, the regional appraisal suggests that exploration should be focused toward the identification of plays related to prograding Cretaceous deltaic depositional systems.

Populations of many shorebird species appear to be declining in North America, and food resources at stopover habitats may limit migratory bird populations. We investigated body condition of, and foraging habitat and diet selection by 4 species of shorebirds in the central Illinois River valley during fall migrations 2007 and 2008 (Killdeer [Charadrius vociferus], Least Sandpiper [Calidris minutilla], Pectoral Sandpiper [Calidris melanotos], and Lesser Yellowlegs [Tringa flavipes]). All species except Killdeer were in good to excellent condition, based on size-corrected body mass and fat scores. Shorebird diets were dominated by invertebrate taxa from Orders Diptera and Coleoptera. Additionally, Isopoda, Hemiptera, Hirudinea, Nematoda, and Cyprinodontiformes contribution to diets varied by shorebird species and year. We evaluated diet and foraging habitat selection by comparing aggregate percent dry mass of food items in shorebird diets and core samples from foraging substrates. Invertebrate abundances at shorebird collection sites and random sites were generally similar, indicating that birds did not select foraging patches within wetlands based on invertebrate abundance. Conversely, we found considerable evidence for selection of some diet items within particular foraging sites, and consistent avoidance of Oligochaeta. We suspect the diet selectivity we observed was a function of overall invertebrate biomass (51.2±4.4 [SE] kg/ha; dry mass) at our study sites, which was greater than estimates reported in most other food selection studies. Diet selectivity in shorebirds may follow tenants of optimal foraging theory; that is, at low food abundances shorebirds forage opportunistically, with the likelihood of selectivity increasing as food availability increases. Nonetheless, relationships between the abundance, availability, and consumption of Oligochaetes for and by waterbirds should be the focus of future research, because estimates of foraging carrying capacity

Arctic cisco Coregonus autumnalis have a complex anadromous life history, many aspects of which remain poorly understood. Some life history traits of Arctic cisco from the Colville River, Alaska, and Mackenzie River basin, Canada, were investigated using molecular genetics, harvest data, and otolith microchemistry. The Mackenzie hypothesis, which suggests that Arctic cisco found in Alaskan waters originate from the Mackenzie River system, was tested using 11 microsatellite loci and a single mitochondrial DNA gene. No genetic differentiation was found among sample collections from the Colville River and the Mackenzie River system using molecular markers (P > 0.19 in all comparisons). Model-based clustering methods also supported genetic admixture between sample collections from the Colville River and Mackenzie River basin. A reanalysis of recruitment patterns to Alaska, which included data from recent warm periods and suspected changes in atmospheric circulation patterns, still finds that recruitment is correlated to wind conditions. Otolith microchemistry (Sr/Ca ratios) confirmed repeated, annual movements of Arctic cisco between low-salinity habitats in winter and marine waters in summer.

We used radiotelemetry to monitor the migration behavior of juvenile hatchery and wild steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss as they migrated through Lower Granite Reservoir and Dam on the lower Snake River, Washington. From 1996 to 2001, we surgically implanted radio transmitters in 1,540 hatchery steelhead and 1,346 wild steelhead. For analysis, we used the inverse Gaussian distribution to describe travel time distributions for cohorts (>50 fish) of juvenile steelhead as they migrated downriver. Mean travel rates were significantly related to reach- and discharge-specific water velocities. Also, mean travel rates near the dam were slower for a given range of water velocities than were mean travel rates through the reservoir, indicating that the presence of the dam caused delay to juvenile steelhead over and above the effect of water velocity. Hatchery steelhead took about twice as long as wild steelhead to pass the dam as a result of the higher proportions of hatchery steelhead traveling upriver from the dam. Because upriver travel and the resulting migration delay might decrease survival, it is possible that hatchery steelhead survive at lower rates than wild steelhead. Our analysis identified a discharge threshold (???2,400 m3/s) below which travel time and the percentage of fish traveling upriver from the dam increased rapidly, providing support for the use of minimum flow targets to mitigate for fish delay and possibly enhance juvenile steelhead survival.

An understanding of the migration timing patterns of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and steelhead O. mykiss is important for managing complex mixed-stock fisheries and preserving genetic and life history diversity. We examined adult return timing for 3,317 radio-tagged fish from 38 stocks of Columbia River basin spring-summer Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha over 5 years. Stock composition varied widely within and between years depending on the strength of influential populations. Most individual stocks migrated at similar times each year relative to overall runs, supporting the hypotheses that run timing is predictable, is at least partially due to genetic adaptation, and can be used to differentiate between some conspecific populations. Arrival timing of both aggregated radio-tagged stocks and annual runs was strongly correlated with river discharge; stocks arrived earlier at Bonneville Dam and at upstream dams in years with low discharge. Migration timing analyses identified many between-stock and between-year differences in anadromous salmonid return behavior and should and managers interested in protection and recovery of evolutionary significant populations.

The Agulhas Current (AC) is the western boundary current of the South Indian subtropical gyre and is also the pathway for the inter-basin exchange of water, heat and salt between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and thus a crucial part of the global overturning circulation of the world ocean. The AC, which otherwise flows stably along the coast of South Africa, undergoes dramatic offshore excursions from its mean path, forming large mesoscale solitary meanders propagating downstream and potentially linked to the leakage of Indian Ocean waters to the South Atlantic. These irregular meander events have been referred to as Natal Pulses.Here we present new observations and analyses of Agulhas meanders using full-depth velocity mooring observations from the Agulhas Current Time series experiment (ACT). Detailed analyses of the in-situ velocity reveal important differences between the behavior of the flow during solitary meander events and during meander events of smaller amplitude. During solitary meanders, an onshore cyclonic circulation and an offshore anticyclonic circulation act in concert to displace the jet offshore, leading to sudden and strong positive conversion of kinetic energy of the mean flow to the meander. In contrast, smaller amplitude meanderings are principally represented by a single cyclonic circulation spanning the entire jet that acts to displace the jet without significantly extracting kinetic energy from the mean flow. Solitary meander events can be traced upstream using satellite altimetry and linked to either Mozambique Channel eddies or Madagascar dipoles, the latter possibly part of a basin-wide pattern of propagating sea level anomalies consistent with Rossby wave dynamics. However, only a small number of these anomalies lead to solitary meanders. Altimetric observations suggest 1.5 meanders per year and show that the two-year period during ACT when no events were observed is unprecedented in the 20-year satellite record.

Holocene fluvial changes of the Guadalquivir River at Córdoba City were studied with an emphasis on floodplain development, rivermigration rates, sedimentation rates and environmental history. During the Holocene, the Guadalquivir River has developed a large meander (El Arenal) with a general southwards lateral migration, undercutting Tertiary bedrock, and with a total incision of 9 m, which developed three alluvial surfaces: Fp1, Fp2 and Fp3. The oldest floodplain surface Fp1 (+ 7-9 m) was deposited during the early Holocene and reached its maximum extent around 1000 yr BP. The next floodplain surface Fp2 (+ 5 m) accumulated 500 to 1000 yr ago. Finally, the youngest floodplain surface (Fp3, + 1-2 m) was developed in the last 500 yr. Migration rates and direction changed from 690-480 m 2 yr - 1 in Fp1 (to the southeast), 2280 m 2 yr - 1 in Fp2 and 620 m 2 yr - 1 in Fp3 (to the west). The stratigraphical study of palaeomeanders and chute channel deposits show evidence of river position and dynamics through recent times: (1) "San Eduardo" was filled 4000 yr BP; (2) "Madre Vieja" has been active since 2100 yr BP to the present day; and (3) "El Cortijo" was formed and filled during historical times (the last 1000 yr). The chronology of the alluvial stratigraphy and fluvial dynamics are discussed within the context of historical hydrologic, climatic and anthropogenic changes. In addition, the geomorphological reconstruction of the riverine landscape in historical times provided some clue to the location of Medinat al-Zahira, a lost Muslim settlement built in the 10th century AD and believed to be situated at, or nearby, the Arenal meander. Paleogeographical analysis shows that the most suitable conditions for this medieval settlement were found on the northeast part of the Arenal meander.

In the lower 11 km of its course around the resurgent dome of Long Valley caldera, the Owens River displays two parallel meander belts, comparable in meander wavelength and amplitude but unequal in age, elevation, and discharge. It appears the two belts take turns carrying the river's flow depending on whether the dome is inflating or subsiding. The inboard belt, some 200-300 m closer to the dome and now 30-60 cm higher in elevation, contains an underfit stream and is now being abandoned. The outboard channel formed in a series of avulsions apparently induced by recent uplift of the dome. In the upper 4 km of the two-channel reach, avulsion occurred between 1856 and 1878 as inferred from the original US Coast and Geodetic Survey mapping the caldera. Avulsion had already occurred by 1856 in the lower 4 km of the river, suggesting a possible migration of the center of uplift through time. More ancient meander scars at the inboard and outboard limits of the floodplain imply additional earlier episodes of inflation and subsidence. Projection of surveyed topographic profiles across the river's floodplain to the center of the dome suggests that cumulative recent uplift is on the order of 15-35 m, or about 30-70 times greater than that measured for the caldera since 1979 (Castle et al. 1984). The duration of the era of subsidence can be estimated by comparing oxbow densities in the old and new meander belts in the upper two-channel reach; the data suggest that the dome may have been in subsidence for a period of at least 500 to 1,000 yr ending about 150 yr ago. No eruptions of the Long Valley volcanic system have accompanied these inflations and subsidings.

We conducted laboratory experiments with kaluga, Huso dauricus, and Amur sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii, to develop a conceptual model of early behavior. We daily observed embryos (first life phase after hatching) and larvae (period initiating exogenous feeding) to day-30 (late larvae) for preference of bright habitat and cover, swimming distance above the bottom, up- and downstream movement, and diel activity. Day-0 embryos of both species strongly preferred bright, open habitat and initiated a strong, downstream migration that lasted 4 days (3 day peak) for kaluga and 3 days (2 day peak) for Amur sturgeon. Kaluga migrants swam far above the bottom (150 cm) on only 1 day and moved day and night; Amur sturgeon migrants swam far above the bottom (median 130 cm) during 3 days and were more nocturnal than kaluga. Post-migrant embryos of both species moved day and night, but Amur sturgeon used dark, cover habitat and swam closer to the bottom than kaluga. The larva period of both species began on day 7 (cumulative temperature degree-days, 192.0 for kaluga and 171.5 for Amur sturgeon). Larvae of both species preferred open habitat. Kaluga larvae strongly preferred bright habitat, initially swam far above the bottom (median 50-105 cm), and migrated downstream at night during days 10-16 (7-day migration). Amur sturgeon larvae strongly avoided illumination, had a mixed response to white substrate, swam 20-30 cm above the bottom during most days, and during days 12-34 (most of the larva period) moved downstream mostly at night (23-day migration). The embryo-larva migration style of the two species likely shows convergence of non-related species for a common style in response to environmental selection in the Amur River. The embryo-larva migration style of Amur sturgeon is unique among Acipenser yet studied.

This report details the 2001 results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior of wild spring/summer chinook salmon smolts in the Snake River Basin. The report also discusses trends in the cumulative data collected for this project from Oregon and Idaho streams since 1989. The project was initiated after detection data from passive-integrated-transponder tags (PIT tags) had shown distinct differences in migration patterns between wild and hatchery fish for three consecutive years. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) investigators first observed these data in 1989. The data originated from tagging and interrogation operations begun in 1988 to evaluate smolt transportation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

We studied the migratory behavior of subyearling fall Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in free-flowing and impounded reaches of the Snake River to evaluate the hypothesis that velocity and turbulence are the primary causal mechanisms of downstream migration. The hypothesis states that impoundment reduces velocity and turbulence and alters the migratory behavior of juvenile Chinook salmon as a result of their reduced perception of these cues. At a constant flow (m3 /s), both velocity (km/d) and turbulence (the SD of velocity) decreased from riverine to impounded habitat as cross-sectional areas increased. We found evidence for the hypothesis that subyearling Chinook salmon perceive velocity and turbulence cues and respond to these cues by varying their behavior. The percentage of the subyearlings that moved faster than the average current speed decreased as fish made the transition from riverine reaches with high velocities and turbulence to upper reservoir reaches with low velocities and turbulence but increased to riverine levels again as the fish moved further down in the reservoir, where velocity and turbulence remained low. The migration rate (km/d) decreased in accordance with longitudinal reductions in velocity and turbulence, as predicted by the hypothesis. The variation in migration rate was better explained by a repeatedmeasures regression model containing velocity (Akaike’s information criterion ¼ 1,769.0) than a model containing flow (2,232.6). We conclude that subyearling fall Chinook salmon respond to changes in water velocity and turbulence, which work together to affect the migration rate.

Adult steelhead tagged with archival transmitters primarily migrated through a large river corridor at depths > 2 m, interspersed with frequent but short (< 5 min) periods closer to the surface. The recorded swimming depths and behaviours probably provided adequate hydrostatic compensation for the encountered supersaturated dissolved gas conditions and probably limited development of gas bubble disease (GBD). Results parallel those from a concurrent adult Chinook salmon study, except steelhead experienced greater seasonal variability and were more likely to have depth-uncompensated supersaturation exposure in some dam tailraces, perhaps explaining the higher incidence of GBD in this species.

The present experimental study was conducted in order to determine the existence of streamwise vortex meander in a mixing layer, and if present, its significance on the measured properties. The dependence of the velocity cross-correlation on the fixed probe location was shown to be a good indicator of the stationarity of the streamwise vortex location. The cross-correlation measurements obtained here indicate that spanwise meander is negligible, although transverse apparent meander (normal to the plane of the mixing layer) was indicated. The transverse meander, exemplified by the elliptical shape of the mean streamwise vorticity contours, was expected, since the streamwise vorticity in the braid region is essentially inclined, with respect to the streamwise direction. These conclusions were supported by results of estimated spanwise profiles of the transverse velocity component. The balance of evidence suggests that the measured mean streamwise vorticity decay is representative of the decay of the vorticity rather than an artifact of meander.

There is much evidence in the literature for the presence of mesoscale lateral meanders in the stable nighttime boundary layer. These meanders result in relatively high lateral turbulence intensities and diffusion rates when averaged over an hour. Anemometer data from 17 overnight experiments at Cinder Cone Butte in Idaho are analyzed to show that the dominant period of the mesoscale meanders is about two hours. Lidar cross-sections of tracer plumes from these same experiments show that the hourly average y is often dominated by meandering. Since meandering is not always observed for given meteorological conditions, it is suggested that nighttime diffusion cannot be accurately predicted without using onsite observations of wind fluctuations. In case no turbulence data are available, an empirical formula is suggested that predicts the hourly average lateral turbulence intensity as a function of wind speed and hour-to-hour variation in wind direction.

The in situ depths of juvenile salmonids Oncorhynchus spp. were studied to determine whether hydrostatic compensation was sufficient to protect them from gas bubble disease (GBD) during exposure to total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation from a regional program of spill at dams meant to improve salmonid passage survival. Yearling Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha and juvenile steelhead O. mykiss implanted with pressure-sensing radio transmitters were monitored from boats while they were migrating between the tailrace of Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River and the forebay of McNary Dam on the Columbia River during 1997-1999. The TDG generally decreased with distance from the tailrace of the dam and was within levels known to cause GBD signs and mortality in laboratory bioassays. Results of repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that the mean depths of juvenile steelhead were similar throughout the study area, ranging from 2.0 m in the Snake River to 2.3 m near the McNary Dam forebay. The mean depths of yearling Chinook salmon generally increased with distance from Ice Harbor Dam, ranging from 1.5 m in the Snake River to 3.2 m near the forebay. Juvenile steelhead were deeper at night than during the day, and yearling Chinook salmon were deeper during the day than at night. The TDG level was a significant covariate in models of the migration depth and rates of each species, but no effect of fish size was detected. Hydrostatic compensation, along with short exposure times in the area of greatest TDG, reduced the effects of TDG exposure below those generally shown to elicit GBD signs or mortality. Based on these factors, our results indicate that the TDG limits of the regional spill program were safe for these juvenile salmonids.

An investigation into the interactions between a model axial-flow hydrokinetic turbine (rotor diameter, dT = 0.15 m) and the complex hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes within a meandering channel was carried out in the Outdoor StreamLab research facility at the University of Minnesota St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. This field-scale meandering stream with bulk flow and sediment discharge control provided a location for high spatiotemporally resolved measurements of bed and water surface elevations around the model turbine. The device was installed within an asymmetric, erodible channel cross section under migrating bed form and fixed outer bank conditions. A comparative analysis between velocity and topographic measurements, with and without the turbine installed, highlights the local and nonlocal features of the turbine-induced scour and deposition patterns. In particular, it shows how the cross-section geometry changes, how the bed form characteristics are altered, and how the mean flow field is distorted both upstream and downstream of the turbine. We further compare and discuss how current energy conversion deployments in meander regions would result in different interactions between the turbine operation and the local and nonlocal bathymetry compared to straight channels.

Spawning migration of adult male chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha was monitored by radio telemetry to determine their response to the presence of metals contamination in the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, Idaho. The North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River is relatively free of metals contamination and was used as a control. In all, 45 chinook salmon were transported from their natal stream, Wolf Lodge Creek, tagged with radio transmitters, and released in the Coeur d'Alene River 2 km downstream of the confluence of the South Fork and the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. Fixed telemetry receivers were used to monitor the upstream movement of the tagged chinook salmon through the confluence area for 3 weeks after release. During this period, general water quality and metals concentrations were monitored in the study area. Of the 23 chinook salmon observed to move upstream from the release site and through the confluence area, the majority (16 fish, 70%) moved up the North Fork, and only 7 fish (30%) moved up the South Fork, where greater metals concentrations were observed. Our results agree with laboratory findings and suggest that natural fish populations will avoid tributaries with high metals contamination.

For overbank flows, submerged flexible vegetation on floodplains increases channel resistance and decreases channel conveyance capability. This study presents an analytical model for estimating the stage-discharge relationship in a meandering compound channel with dense, submerged, flexible vegetation on floodplains under high flow conditions. The mean velocity within a canopy was linked to the depth-averaged velocity, and a relationship between the two velocities was proposed. The governing equation was deduced in curvilinear coordinates, and the lateral shear stresses were found to be negligible, as validated by our experimental measurements in a large-scale meandering channel. Then, analytical solutions of subarea discharges and total discharge were derived by ignoring lateral shear stresses. Measurements from two flume experiments and one field study were used to verify the proposed model. The field case involved a natural river with both submerged and emergent grass on the floodplains. Good agreement between predictions and measurements indicated that the model accurately predicted subarea discharges and the stage-discharge relationships in a meandering compound channel with submerged vegetation. Finally, the predictions of this model were sensitive to the secondary flow parameters in the main channel but insensitive to those on the floodplains.

The Bayanbulak Grassland, Tianshan, China is located in an intramountane sedimentary basin where meandering and braided gravel-bed streams coexist under the same climatic and geological settings. We report on measurements of their discharge, width, depth, slope and grain size. Based on this data set, we compare the morphology of individual threads from braided and meandering streams. Both types of threads share statistically indistinguishable regime relations. Their depths and slopes compare well with the threshold theory, but they are wider than predicted by this theory. These findings are reminiscent of previous observations from similar gravel-bed streams. Using the scaling laws of the threshold theory, we detrend our data with respect to discharge to produce a homogeneous statistical ensemble of width, depth and slope measurements. The statistical distributions of these dimensionless quantities are similar for braided and meandering streams. This suggests that a braided river is a collection of intertwined channels, which individually resemble isolated streams. Given the environmental conditions in Bayanbulak, we furthermore hypothesize that bedload transport causes the channels to be wider than predicted by the threshold theory.

Recent work has shown that muddy sediments are elastic solids through which animals extend burrows by fracture, whereas non-cohesive granular sands fluidize around some burrowers. These different mechanical responses are reflected in the morphologies and behaviours of their respective inhabitants. However, Armandia brevis, a mud-burrowing opheliid polychaete, lacks an expansible anterior consistent with fracturing mud, and instead uses undulatory movements similar to those of sandfish lizards that fluidize desert sands. Here, we show that A. brevis neither fractures nor fluidizes sediments, but instead uses a third mechanism, plastically rearranging sediment grains to create a burrow. The curvature of the undulating body fits meander geometry used to describe rivers, and changes in curvature driven by muscle contraction are similar for swimming and burrowing worms, indicating that the same gait is used in both sediments and water. Large calculated friction forces for undulatory burrowers suggest that sediment mechanics affect undulatory and peristaltic burrowers differently; undulatory burrowing may be more effective for small worms that live in sediments not compacted or cohesive enough to extend burrows by fracture.

Recent work has shown that muddy sediments are elastic solids through which animals extend burrows by fracture, whereas non-cohesive granular sands fluidize around some burrowers. These different mechanical responses are reflected in the morphologies and behaviours of their respective inhabitants. However, Armandia brevis, a mud-burrowing opheliid polychaete, lacks an expansible anterior consistent with fracturing mud, and instead uses undulatory movements similar to those of sandfish lizards that fluidize desert sands. Here, we show that A. brevis neither fractures nor fluidizes sediments, but instead uses a third mechanism, plastically rearranging sediment grains to create a burrow. The curvature of the undulating body fits meander geometry used to describe rivers, and changes in curvature driven by muscle contraction are similar for swimming and burrowing worms, indicating that the same gait is used in both sediments and water. Large calculated friction forces for undulatory burrowers suggest that sediment mechanics affect undulatory and peristaltic burrowers differently; undulatory burrowing may be more effective for small worms that live in sediments not compacted or cohesive enough to extend burrows by fracture. PMID:23446526

A detailed geological record of climate and landscape change through multiple glacial-interglacial cycles is preserved in the morphology and stratigraphy of South Carolina's coastal plain. High-resolution LiDAR topography across the coastal plain reveals a complex landscape with channel patterns that highlight the dynamic response of coastal river systems to shifts in climate. While the southeastern coastal plain was far from the edge of the North American ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum, much of the relict floodplain morphology is comprised of braided plains with parabolic dunes oriented ENE, large meander scars and sandy scroll bars. These features record a transition from low profile, episodic braided systems during the glacial period to unusually large, overfit meandering systems during deglaciation, and subsequently to the smaller, modern meandering system. Focusing on the confluence of the Great Pee Dee and Little Pee Dee Rivers, we collected a suite of geophysical data (Chirp subbottom and multibeam bathymetry in the river and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) across the floodplain and dunes) and geologic samples to examine the 3-D subsurface architecture of this fluvial system. Preliminary analysis of the Chirp subbottom and GPR data reveals a series of buried surfaces that appear to represent multiple fluvial terraces dissected by paleochannels that may record several cycles of glaciation accompanied by shifts in fluvial morphology. Sediment samples collected along these subsurface profiles will be correlated with the geophysical data to provide age constraints on the timing of channel migration. These newly acquired datasets have been integrated with pre-existing high resolution LiDAR topography data and regional orthophotographs to create a detailed three-dimensional visualization of the study area.

River systems are increasingly under stress and pressure from agriculture and urbanization in riparian zones, resulting in frequent engineering interventions such as bank stabilization or flood protection. This study provides guidelines for a more sustainable approach to river management based on hydrogeomorphology concepts applied to three contrasted rivers in Quebec (Canada). Mobility and flooding spaces are determined for the three rivers, and three levels of "freedom space" are subsequently defined based on the combination of the two spaces. The first level of freedom space includes very frequently flooded and highly mobile zones over the next 50 years, as well as riparian wetlands. It provides the minimum space for both fluvial and ecological functionality of the river system. On average for the three studied sites, this minimum space was approximately 1.7 times the channel width, but this minimum space corresponds to a highly variable width which must be determined from a thorough hydrogeomorphic assessment and cannot be predicted using a representative average. The second level includes space for floods of larger magnitude and provides for meanders to migrate freely over a longer time period. The last level of freedom space represents exceptional flood zones. We propose the freedom space concept to be implemented in current river management legislation because it promotes a sustainable way to manage river systems, and it increases their resilience to climate and land use changes in comparison with traditional river management approaches which are based on frequent and spatially restricted interventions.

River systems are increasingly under stress and pressure from agriculture and urbanization in riparian zones, resulting in frequent engineering interventions such as bank stabilization or flood protection. This study provides guidelines for a more sustainable approach to river management based on hydrogeomorphology concepts applied to three contrasted rivers in Quebec (Canada). Mobility and flooding spaces are determined for the three rivers, and three levels of "freedom space" are subsequently defined based on the combination of the two spaces. The first level of freedom space includes very frequently flooded and highly mobile zones over the next 50 years, as well as riparian wetlands. It provides the minimum space for both fluvial and ecological functionality of the river system. On average for the three studied sites, this minimum space was approximately 1.7 times the channel width, but this minimum space corresponds to a highly variable width which must be determined from a thorough hydrogeomorphic assessment and cannot be predicted using a representative average. The second level includes space for floods of larger magnitude and provides for meanders to migrate freely over a longer time period. The last level of freedom space represents exceptional flood zones. We propose the freedom space concept to be implemented in current river management legislation because it promotes a sustainable way to manage river systems, and it increases their resilience to climate and land use changes in comparison with traditional river management approaches which are based on frequent and spatially restricted interventions.

An analysis of the planform changes of the Colombian reach of the Amazon River was carried out over a period of 19.9 years. Remote sensing image processing techniques were applied to Landsat images acquired in 1986, 1994, 2001 and, 2006. These images were selected based on minimal daily water level variations, while providing the widest temporal span. Plan view river changes and geomorphologic characteristics were examined to identify which channel pattern classification best represents this large tropical river system. Discharge was also analyzed to determine whether changes in the river's plan view are a direct response to variations in discharge. The system had a depositional tendency between 1986 and 2006, with a period where erosion was more intense than deposition between 1994 and 2001. Percent change in the plan view area of the system (1.4% yr-1) and the maximum migration rates (125 m yr-1) suggest that this reach of the Amazon is less active than reaches upstream and the downstream reach between the confluences of the Jutaí and Japurá Rivers. Variations in discharge appear to be responsible for deposition and erosion dynamics observed after this remote sensing analysis in the Colombian reach of the Amazon River. Characteristics including multiple channels with vegetated islands developed from within-channel deposition, meandering planform, lateral activity of channel margins, and the absence of islands with saucer-like morphology suggest a multichannel, meandering pattern for this reach of the Amazon, that corresponds to a laterally active anabranching river.

Prior to 1992, decisions on dam operations and use of stored water relied on recoveries of branded hatchery fish, index counts at traps and dams, and flow patterns at the dams. The advent of PIT-tag technology provided the opportunity to precisely track the smolt migrations of many wild stocks as they pass through the hydroelectric complex and other monitoring sites on their way to the ocean. With the availability of the PIT tag, a more complete approach to these decisions was undertaken starting in 1992 with the addition of PIT-tag detections of several wild spring and summer chinook salmon stocks at Lower Granite Dam. Using data from these detections, we initiated development of a database on wild fish, addressing several goals of the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning Council and Conservation Act (NPPC 1980). Section 304(d) of the program states, ''The monitoring program will provide information on the migrational characteristics of the various stocks of salmon and steelhead within the Columbia Basin.'' Further, Section 201(b) urges conservation of genetic diversity, which will be possible only if wild stocks are preserved. Section 5.9A.1 of the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program states that field monitoring of smolt movement will be used to determine the best timing for water storage releases and Section 5.8A.8 states that continued research is needed on survival of juvenile wild fish before they reach the first dam with special attention to water quantity, quality, and several other factors. The goals of this ongoing study are as follows (1) Characterize the migration timing and estimate parr-to-smolt survival of different stocks of wild Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon smolts at Lower Granite Dam. (2) Determine whether consistent migration patterns are apparent. (3) Determine what environmental factors influence these patterns. (4) Characterize the migrational behavior and estimate survival of

We have developed a sediment routing model of the Maple River, southern Minnesota, to test multiple hypotheses regarding the effects of natural and human disturbances on the contribution of sediment from multiple sources and transport of that sediment through the river network. The watershed-scale sediment dynamics are strongly influenced by two factors, one being a major knick point that has migrated 30 km from the mouth of the Maple River over the past 11,000 years, and the second being row crop agriculture, which has dramatically changed the hydrology, vegetation, and connectivity of the landscape over the past 150 years. Four primary sources are considered, ravines, bluffs, tributaries, and upland agricultural fields. The combined channel-floodplain complex is represented as a morphodynamic unit that actively exchanges sediment, accounting for deposition in point bars and floodplains and erosion of sediment as a result of meandermigration and channel widening. The knick point is treated as a moving boundary that migrates upstream at a rate dictated by incision of the lower reach. Early results suggest that the model can attain equilibrium conditions between the river and floodplain when realistic input parameters are used and the model is capable of simulating a slowly incising system with a migrating knick point and appropriate adjustments to floodplain thickness. Ongoing work focuses on several different scenarios with altered hydrology and/or fluxes of sand or mud.

Repeat, high-resolution multibeam bathymetric surveys were conducted in March and July 2015 along a reach of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon near the Diamond Creek gage (362 km downstream of Lees Ferry, AZ) to characterize the migration of sand dunes. The surveys were collected as part of a study designed to quantify the relative importance of bedload and suspended sediment transport and develop a predictive relationship for bedload transport. Concurrent measurements of suspended-sediment concentrations, bed-sediment grain size, and water velocity were also collected. The study site is approximately 350 m long and 50 m wide; water depths are 7 to 10 m during normal flows; and a field of sand dunes form along its entire length with negligible coarse material at the bed surface. Full swath coverage of the site required about 6 to 10 minutes to complete with two passes of the survey vessel. Mapping occurred continuously during several survey periods. For each survey period, time-series of bathymetric maps were constructed from each pair of survey lines. In March, surveys were collected over durations of 2, 3, 9, and 11 hours, at discharges of 339 to 382 m3/s. In July, surveys were collected over durations of 4, 4, and 13 hours, at discharges ranging from 481 to 595 ft3/s. These surveys capture the migration of sand dunes over a wide range of discharge with an unprecedented temporal resolution. The dunes in March were between 30 and 50 cm in height, 5 m in length, and migrating downstream at about 1 m per hour. In July, dunes were between 75 and 130 cm in height and 10-15 m in length, and were migrating downstream at rates of 5 to 2 m per hour. The surveys also reveal that the dune migration is spatially and temporally variable, with fast-migrating small dunes variably superimposed on slower-moving larger dunes. The dunes also refract around shoreline talus piles and other flow constrictions collectively causing a large degree of dune deformation as they migrate.

To better understand and partition mortality among life stages of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), we used inclined-plane traps to monitor the migration of juveniles in the Kwethluk River, Alaska in 2007 and 2008. The migration of juvenile chum salmon peaked in mid-May and catch rates were greatest when water levels were rising. Movement of chum salmon was diurnal with highest catch rates occurring during the hours of low light (that is, 22:00 to 10:00). Trap efficiency ranged from 0.37 to 4.04 percent (overall efficiency = 1.94 percent). Total abundance of juvenile chum salmon was estimated to be 2.0 million fish in 2007 and 2.9 million fish in 2008. On the basis of the estimate of chum salmon females passing the Kwethluk River weir and age-specific fecundity, we estimated the potential egg deposition (PED) upstream of the weir and trapping site. Egg-to-smolt survival, calculated by dividing the estimate of juvenile chum salmon emigrating past the weir site by the estimate of PED, was 4.6 percent in 2007 and 5.2 percent in 2008. In addition to chum salmon, Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch), sockeye salmon (O. nerka), and pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), as well as ten other fish species, were captured in the traps. As with chum salmon, catch of these species increased during periods of increasing discharge and peaked during hours of low light. This study successfully determined the characteristics of juvenile salmon migrations and estimated egg-to-smolt survival for chum salmon. This is the first estimate of survival for any juvenile salmon in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Alaska and demonstrates an approach that can help to partition mortality between freshwater and marine life stages, information critical to understanding the dynamics of salmon in this region.

Oxbow lakes are some of the most widespread and distinctive landforms along meanderingrivers, but their persistence as aquatic habitat may depend on the mechanisms of their formation. Based on an archive of historical aerial photographs and maps of seven meanderingrivers, we use changes in water-surface area as a proxy for alluviation to demonstrate that oxbows and abandoned channels created by neck cutoff can persist in the floodplain for centuries, whereas the oxbows and abandoned channels created by chute cutoff appear to undergo rapid alluviation following their formation. Differences in the persistence of the thirty-seven oxbows and abandoned channels under study are due to differences in the planform characteristics that are associated with each cutoff mechanism. Using theoretical and empirical relations that describe the conditions required for the conveyance of riverbed sediment, we show that neck cutoff results in the successful transition of persistent oxbows because they lack the planform characteristics required for sustaining the flows needed to prevent plug formation. The angle by which flow is diverted and the magnitude by which the river is locally steepened is significantly greater for channels created by neck cutoff than for those created by chute cutoff.

Neck cutoffs are a common morphodynamic feature of meanderingrivers. However, their occurrence on natural rivers is often sporadic with fairly rapid initial morphologic adjustment, making detailed field investigations of the interactions between flow and form challenging. A recent neck cutoff event on the White River in central Arkansas has provided a rare opportunity to collect field measurements of velocity and channel bathymetry during the first two years following initial cutoff. These datasets were used to perform detailed three-dimensional numerical modeling of the hydrodynamics at different stages in morphologic evolution of the cutoff. The simulations were performed using the MIKE 3 Flexible Mesh (FM) by DHI, which utilizes an unstructured mesh and the finite volume method to solve the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The model was calibrated against the field measurements of three-dimensional velocity, and various discharge conditions were simulated for each time period. The modeling results reveal complex patterns of three-dimensional flow field, including strong vertical velocity gradients through the initial cutoff and multiple regions of flow separation and recirculation related to strong redirection of the flow nearly 180 degrees through the cutoff. These regions of recirculation are also shown to vary depending on discharge conditions and affect hydrologic connectivity between the main channel and abandoned loop. The findings from this investigation are used to develop improved conceptual models of neck cutoffs on elongate meander loops.

Sea Level Rise (SLR) caused by climate change is impacting coastal wetlands around the globe. Due to their distinctive biophysical characteristics and unique plant communities, freshwater tidal wetlands are expected to exhibit a different response to SLR as compared with the better studied salt marshes. In this study we employed the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM), which simulates regional- or local-scale changes in tidal wetland habitats in response to SLR, and adapted it for application in a freshwater-dominated tidal river system, the Hudson River Estuary. Using regionally-specific estimated ranges of SLR and accretion rates, we produced simulations for a spectrum of possible future wetland distributions and quantified the projected wetland resilience, migration or loss in the HRE through the end of the 21st century. Projections of total wetland extent and migration were more strongly determined by the rate of SLR than the rate of accretion. Surprisingly, an increase in net tidal wetland area was projected under all scenarios, with newly-formed tidal wetlands expected to comprise at least 33% of the HRE’s wetland area by year 2100. Model simulations with high rates of SLR and/or low rates of accretion resulted in broad shifts in wetland composition with widespread conversion of high marsh habitat to low marsh, tidal flat or permanent inundation. Wetland expansion and resilience were not equally distributed through the estuary, with just three of 48 primary wetland areas encompassing >50% of projected new wetland by the year 2100. Our results open an avenue for improving predictive models of the response of freshwater tidal wetlands to sea level rise, and broadly inform the planning of conservation measures of this critical resource in the Hudson River Estuary. PMID:27043136

Sea Level Rise (SLR) caused by climate change is impacting coastal wetlands around the globe. Due to their distinctive biophysical characteristics and unique plant communities, freshwater tidal wetlands are expected to exhibit a different response to SLR as compared with the better studied salt marshes. In this study we employed the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM), which simulates regional- or local-scale changes in tidal wetland habitats in response to SLR, and adapted it for application in a freshwater-dominated tidal river system, the Hudson River Estuary. Using regionally-specific estimated ranges of SLR and accretion rates, we produced simulations for a spectrum of possible future wetland distributions and quantified the projected wetland resilience, migration or loss in the HRE through the end of the 21st century. Projections of total wetland extent and migration were more strongly determined by the rate of SLR than the rate of accretion. Surprisingly, an increase in net tidal wetland area was projected under all scenarios, with newly-formed tidal wetlands expected to comprise at least 33% of the HRE's wetland area by year 2100. Model simulations with high rates of SLR and/or low rates of accretion resulted in broad shifts in wetland composition with widespread conversion of high marsh habitat to low marsh, tidal flat or permanent inundation. Wetland expansion and resilience were not equally distributed through the estuary, with just three of 48 primary wetland areas encompassing >50% of projected new wetland by the year 2100. Our results open an avenue for improving predictive models of the response of freshwater tidal wetlands to sea level rise, and broadly inform the planning of conservation measures of this critical resource in the Hudson River Estuary.

River channel management within the last centuries has largely modified fluvial processes and morphodynamic evolution of most large European rivers. Several river systems experienced extensive channelization early in the 19th century, thus strongly challenging our present ability to detect their morphodynamic functioning with contemporary photogrammetry or cartographical sources. This consequently leaves open questions about their potential future response, especially to management strategies that "give more room" to the river, aiming at partially rehabilitating their natural functioning. The Adige River (Etsch in German), the second longest Italian river, is an exemplary case where channelization occurred more than 150 years ago, and is the focus of the present work. This work aims (i) to explore changes in fundamental morphodynamic processes associated with massive channelization of the Adige River and (ii) to quantify the alteration in river bars characteristics, by using morphodynamic models of bars and meandering. To fulfil our aims we combine the analysis of historical data with morphodynamic mathematical modelling. Historical sources (recovered in a number of European archives), such as hydrotopographical maps, airborne photogrammetry and hydrological datasets were collected to investigate channel morphology before and after the channelization. Information extracted from this analysis was combined with morphodynamic linear models of free migrating and forced steady bars, to investigate river bars and bend stability properties under different hydromorphological scenarios. Moreover, a morphodynamic model for meandering channel was applied to investigate the influence of river channel planform on the evolution of the fluvial bars. Results from the application of morphodynamic models allowed to predict the type, position and geometry of bars characterizing the channelized configuration of the river, and to explain the presently observed relative paucity of bars

To determine the relationship between the species richness, diversity of helminth communities, and migration distance during upward migration from coast to freshwater, helminth communities in the anadromous fish Coilia nasus were investigated along the coast of the East China Sea, the Yangtze Estuary, and 3 localities on the Yangtze River. Six helminth species were found in 224 C. nasus . Changes in salinity usually reduced the survival time of parasites, and thus the number of helminth species and their abundance. Except for the 2 dominant helminths, the acanthocephalan Acanthosentis cheni and the nematode Contracaecum sp., mean abundance of other 4 species of helminths was rather low (<1.0) during the upward migration in the Yangtze River. Mean abundance of the 2 dominant helminths peaked in the Yangtze Estuary and showed no obvious decrease among the 3 localities on the Yangtze River. Mean species richness, Brillouin's index, and Shannon index were also highest in the estuary (1.93 ± 0.88, 0.28 ± 0.25, and 0.37 ± 0.34, respectively) and did not exhibit marked decline at the 3 localities on the Yangtze River. A significant negative correlation was not seen between the similarity and the geographical distance (R = -0.5104, P = 0.1317). The strong salinity tolerance of intestinal helminths, relatively brief stay in the Yangtze River, and large amount of feeding on small fish and shrimp when commencing spawning migration perhaps were responsible for the results.

Several generations of the ancestral Pee Dee River system have been mapped beneath the South Carolina Grand Strand coastline and adjacent Long Bay inner shelf. Deep boreholes onshore and high-resolution seismic-reflection data offshore allow for reconstruction of these paleochannels, which formed during glacial lowstands, when the Pee Dee River system incised subaerially exposed coastal-plain and continental-shelf strata. Paleochannel groups, representing different generations of the system, decrease in age to the southwest, where the modern Pee Dee River merges with several coastal-plain tributaries at Winyah Bay, the southern terminus of Long Bay. Positions of the successive generational groups record a regional, southwestward migration of the river system that may have initiated during the late Pliocene. The migration was primarily driven by barrier-island deposition, resulting from the interaction of fluvial and shoreline processes during eustatic highstands. Structurally driven, subsurface paleotopography associated with the Mid-Carolina Platform High has also indirectly assisted in forcing this migration. These results provide a better understanding of the evolution of the region and help explain the lack of mobile sediment on the Long Bay inner shelf. Migration of the river system caused a profound change in sediment supply during the late Pleistocene. The abundant fluvial source that once fed sand-rich barrier islands was cut off and replaced with a limited source, supplied by erosion and reworking of former coastal deposits exposed at the shore and on the inner shelf.

This paper explores the scales and characteristics of form roughness along the outer banks of two bends on a large meanderingriver through investigation of irregularities in bank contours and local topographic variability on the bank face. The analysis also examines how roughness varies over the ve...

Juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) emigrating from natal tributaries of the Sacramento River may use a number of migration routes to negotiate the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (hereafter, "the Delta"), each of which may influence their probability of surviving. We applied a mark-recapture model to data from acoustically tagged juvenile late-fall Chinook salmon that migrated through the Delta during the winter of 2009-10 (hereafter, 2010). This report presents findings from our fourth year of research. We estimated route-specific survival for four release groups: two release groups that migrated through the Delta in December 2009 and January 2010, and two release groups that migrated during February 2010. Population-level survival through the Delta (SDelta) ranged from 0.374 (SE = 0.040) to 0.524 (SE = 0.034) among releases. Although river flows for the February release groups were substantially higher (20,000-40,000 ft3/s at Freeport) than for the December release groups (about 10,000 ft3/s), SDelta did not differ considerably between release groups. Among migration routes, fish migrating through the Sacramento River exhibited the highest survival, and fish entering the interior Delta exhibited the lowest survival. Fish entering Sutter and Steamboat Sloughs had lower survival than fish entering the Sacramento River during December, but similar survival during February. These patterns were consistent among release groups, and strikingly similar to patterns observed in previous years. Migration routing varied among release groups partly because of differences in river discharge between releases. For the two December release groups, 26.5 and 28.9 percent of fish entered the interior Delta; for the two February release groups, 10.4 and 17.9 percent of fish entered the interior Delta. Differences in routing probabilities between December and February are partly related to the inverse relationship between flow and the fraction of discharge entering

This reports on the second, third, and fourth years of a multi-year study to assess smolt migration characteristics and cumulative detection rates of naturally produced spring chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from Northeast Oregon streams. The goal of this project is to develop an understanding of interpopulational and interannual variation in several early life history parameters of naturally produced spring and summer chinook salmon in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River subbasins. This project will provide information to assist chinook salmon population recovery efforts. Specific populations included in the study are: (1) Catherine Creek; (2) Upper Grande Ronde River; (3) Lostine River; (4) Imnaha River; (5) Wenaha River; and (6) Minam River. In this document, the authors present findings and activities from research completed in 1993, 1994, and 1995.

Martian meanders reveals linear wavelength/width scaling with a coef. k~10, that can be used to estimate discharges. Simulations of channel evolution are used to determine flow duration from sinuosity. Application to Nirgal Vallis yields 200 yrs.

This report describes a study conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the Bonneville Power Administration's Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program during the fall of 2001. The objective was to study the migration and energy use of adult fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) traveling up the Klickitat River to spawn. The salmon were tagged with either surgically implanted electromyogram (EMG) transmitters or gastrically implanted coded transmitters and were monitored with mobile and stationary receivers. Swim speed and aerobic and anaerobic energy use were determined for the fish as they attempted passage of three waterfalls on the lower Klickitat River and as they traversed free-flowing stretches between, below, and above the falls. Of the 35 EMG-tagged fish released near the mouth of the Klickitat River, 40% passed the first falls, 24% passed the second falls, and 20% made it to Lyle Falls. None of the EMG-tagged fish were able to pass Lyle Falls, either over the falls or via a fishway at Lyle Falls. Mean swimming speeds ranged from as low as 52.6 centimeters per second (cm s{sup -1}) between falls to as high as 189 (cm s{sup -1}) at falls passage. Fish swam above critical swimming speeds while passing the falls more often than while swimming between the falls (58.9% versus 1.7% of the transmitter signals). However, fish expended more energy swimming the stretches between the falls than during actual falls passage (100.7 to 128.2 kilocalories [kcals] to traverse areas between or below falls versus 0.3 to 1.0 kcals to pass falls). Relationships between sex, length, and time of day on the success of falls passage were also examined. Average swimming speeds were highest during the day in all areas except at some waterfalls. There was no apparent relationship between either fish condition or length and successful passage of waterfalls in the lower Klickitat River. Female fall chinook salmon, however, had a much lower likelihood of passing

By applying a theoretical approach, we propose a hypothetical scenario that might explain some features of the movement of a long-lived mesoscale anticyclone observed during 1990 in the Bay of Biscay [R. D. Pingree and B. Le Cann, "Three anticyclonic slope water oceanic eddies (SWODDIES) in the southern Bay of Biscay in 1990," Deep-Sea Res., Part A 39, 1147 (1992)]. In the remote-sensing infrared images, at the initial stage of observations, the anticyclone was accompanied by two cyclonic eddies, so the entire structure appeared as a tripole. However, at later stages, only the anticyclone was seen in the images, traveling generally west. Unusual for an individual eddy were the high speed of its motion (relative to the expected planetary beta-drift) and the presence of almost cycloidal meanders in its trajectory. Although surface satellites seem to have quickly disappeared, we hypothesize that subsurface satellites continued to exist, and the coherence of the three vortices persisted for a long time. A significant perturbation of the central symmetry in the mutual arrangement of three eddies constituting a tripole can make reasonably fast cycloidal drift possible. This hypothesis is tested with two-layer contour-dynamics f-plane simulations and with finite-difference beta-plane simulations. In the latter case, the interplay of the planetary beta-effect and that due to the sloping bottom is considered.

The understanding of the flow structure in deep-sea turbidity currents is important for the formation of submarine meandering channels. Similarly to the case of subaerial channels, several types of secondary flows include turbulence-, curvature- and bed morphodynamic-driven flow structures that modulate sediment transport and channel bed morphodynamics. This study focuses on [1] a review of long-time research effort (Abad et al., 2011) that tackles the description of the secondary flow associated with a subaqueous bottom current (saline) in a high-curvature meandering channel and [2] ongoing numerical simulations of similar settings as the experiments to describe the entire flow structure. In the case of subaerial channels, the classical Rozovskiian paradigm is often invoked which indicates that the near-bottom secondary flow in a bend is directed inward. It has recently been suggested based on experimental and theoretical considerations, however, that this pattern is reversed (near-bottom secondary flow is directed outward) in the case of submarine meandering channels. Experimental results presented here, on the other hand, indicate near-bottom secondary flows that have the same direction as observed in a river (normal secondary flow). The implication is an apparent contradiction between experimental results. This study combines theory, experiments, reconstructions of field flows and ongoing simulations to resolve this apparent contradiction based on the flow densimetric Froude number. Three ranges of densimetric Froude number are found, such that a) in an upper regime, secondary flow is reversed, b) in a middle regime, it is normal and c) in a lower regime, it is reversed. These results are applied to field scale channel-forming turbidity currents in the Amazon submarine canyon-fan system (Amazon Channel) and the Monterey canyon and a saline underflow in the Black Sea flowing from the Bosphorus. Our analysis indicates that secondary flow should be normal

Adult sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka destined for the Fraser River, British Columbia are some of the most economically important populations but changes in the timing of their homeward migration have led to management challenges and conservation concerns. After a directed migration from the open ocean to the coast, this group historically would mill just off shore for 3-6 weeks prior to migrating up the Fraser River. This milling behaviour changed abruptly in 1995 and thereafter, decreasing to only a few days in some years (termed early migration), with dramatic consequences that have necessitated risk-averse management strategies. Early migrating fish consistently suffer extremely high mortality (exceeding 90% in some years) during freshwater migration and on spawning grounds prior to spawning. This synthesis examines multidisciplinary, collaborative research aimed at understanding what triggers early migration, why it results in high mortality, and how fisheries managers can utilize these scientific results. Tissue analyses from thousands of O. nerka captured along their migration trajectory from ocean to spawning grounds, including hundreds that were tracked with biotelemetry, have revealed that early migrants are more reproductively advanced and ill-prepared for osmoregulatory transition upon their entry into fresh water. Gene array profiles indicate that many early migrants are also immunocompromised and stressed, carrying a genomic profile consistent with a viral infection. The causes of these physiological changes are still under investigation. Early migration brings O. nerka into the river when it is 3-6° C warmer than historical norms, which for some late-run populations approaches or exceeds their critical maxima leading to the collapse of metabolic and cardiac scope, and mortality. As peak spawning dates have not changed, the surviving early migrants tend to mill in warm lakes near to spawning areas. These results in the accumulation of many more

Migration and variation of odorous compounds as geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) and residual chlorine in drinking water taken from Huangpu River were studied by using headspace solid phase microextraction procedure (HSPME) and gas chromatograph with mass spectrometry. The results showed that, raw water, processed water, pipe water (taken from pump station) and secondary-supply water all contained MIB and geosmin ranging from 2 ng/L to 18 ng/L and 2.68 ng/L to 5.06 ng/L respectively and decreased dramatically during the water processing and distribution system. MIB is proved to be a kind of the odorous compounds in drinking water of Shanghai by comparing the concentrations of MIB and GSM with their odor threshold. The concentration of residual chlorine declined greatly in the distribution system, but because of the high value at the outlet of waterworks, it still may exceeded the influence of MIB and cause the odour problems.

The annual Sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) migration through Nebraska is thought to be a major source of fecal pollution to the Platte River, but of unknown human health risk. To better understand potential risks, the presence of Campylobacter species and fecal bacteria were exa...

The annual Sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) migration through Nebraska is thought to be a major source of fecal pollution to the Platte River, but of unknown human health risk. To better understand potential risks, the presence of Campylobacter species and fecal bacteria were exa...

Meandering waveguide distributed feedback structures are novel integrated photonic lightwave and microwave circuit elements. Meandering waveguide distributed feedback structures with a variety of spectral responses can be designed for a variety of lightwave and microwave circuit element functions. Distributed meandering waveguide (DMW) structures [1] show a variety of spectral behaviors with respect to the number of meandering loop mirrors (MLMs) [2] used in their composition as well as their internal coupling constants (Cs). DMW spectral behaviors include Fano resonances, coupled resonator induced transparency (CRIT), notch, add-drop, comb, and hitless filters. What makes the DMW special is the self-coupling property intrinsic to the DMW's nature. The basic example of DMW's nature is motivated through the analogy between the so-called symmetric meandering resonator (SMR), which consists of two coupled MLMs, and the resonator enhanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer (REMZI) [3]. A SMR shows the same spectral characteristics of Fano resonances with its self-coupling property, similar to the single, distributed and binary self coupled optical waveguide (SCOW) resonators [4]. So far DMWs have been studied for their electric field intensity, phase [5] and phasor responses [6]. The spectral analysis is performed using the coupled electric field analysis and the generalization of single meandering loop mirrors to multiple meandering distributed feedback structures is performed with the transfer matrix method. The building block of the meandering waveguide structures, the meandering loop mirror (MLM), is the integrated analogue of the fiber optic loop mirrors. The meandering resonator (MR) is composed of two uncoupled MLM's. The meandering distributed feedback (MDFB) structure is the DFB of the MLM. The symmetric MR (SMR) is composed of two coupled MLM's, and has the characteristics of a Fano resonator in the general case, and tunable power divider or tunable hitless filter

Short episodic high temperature events can be lethal for migrating adult Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.). We downscaled temperatures for the Fraser River, British Columbia to evaluate the impact of climate warming on the frequency of exceeding thermal thresholds associated with salmon migratory success. Alarmingly, a modest 1.0 C increase in average summer water temperature over 100 years (1981-2000 to 2081-2100) tripled the number of days per year exceeding critical salmonid thermal thresholds (i.e. 19.0 C). Refined thresholds for two populations (Gates Creek and Weaver Creek) of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) were defined using physiological constraint models based on aerobic scope. While extreme temperatures leading to complete aerobic collapse remained unlikely under our warming scenario, both populations were increasingly forced to migrate upriver at reduced levels of aerobic performance (e.g. in 80% of future simulations, => 90% of salmon encountered temperatures exceeding population specific thermal optima for maximum aerobic scope; T(sub opt)) = 16.3 C for Gates Creek and T(sub sopt)=14.5 C for Weaver Creek). Assuming recent changes to river entry timing persist, we also predicted dramatic increases in the probability of freshwater mortality for Weaver Creek salmon due to reductions in aerobic, and general physiological, performance (e.g. in 42% of future simulations =>50% of Weaver Creek fish exceeded temperature thresholds associated with 0 - 60% of maximum aerobic scope). Potential for adaptation via directional selection on run-timing was more evident for the Weaver Creek population. Early entry Weaver Creek fish experienced 25% (range: 15 - 31%) more suboptimal temperatures than late entrants, compared with an 8% difference (range: 0 - 17%) between early and late Gates Creek fish. Our results emphasize the need to consider daily temperature variability in association with population-specific differences in behaviour and physiological

Short episodic high temperature events can be lethal for migrating adult Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.). We downscaled temperatures for the Fraser River, British Columbia to evaluate the impact of climate warming on the frequency of exceeding thermal thresholds associated with salmon migratory success. Alarmingly, a modest 1.0 C increase in average summer water temperature over 100 years (1981-2000 to 2081-2100) tripled the number of days per year exceeding critical salmonid thermal thresholds (i.e. 19.0 C). Refined thresholds for two populations (Gates Creek and Weaver Creek) of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) were defined using physiological constraint models based on aerobic scope. While extreme temperatures leading to complete aerobic collapse remained unlikely under our warming scenario, both populations were increasingly forced to migrate upriver at reduced levels of aerobic performance (e.g. in 80% of future simulations, => 90% of salmon encountered temperatures exceeding population specific thermal optima for maximum aerobic scope; T(sub opt)) = 16.3 C for Gates Creek and T(sub sopt)=14.5 C for Weaver Creek). Assuming recent changes to river entry timing persist, we also predicted dramatic increases in the probability of freshwater mortality for Weaver Creek salmon due to reductions in aerobic, and general physiological, performance (e.g. in 42% of future simulations =>50% of Weaver Creek fish exceeded temperature thresholds associated with 0 - 60% of maximum aerobic scope). Potential for adaptation via directional selection on run-timing was more evident for the Weaver Creek population. Early entry Weaver Creek fish experienced 25% (range: 15 - 31%) more suboptimal temperatures than late entrants, compared with an 8% difference (range: 0 - 17%) between early and late Gates Creek fish. Our results emphasize the need to consider daily temperature variability in association with population-specific differences in behaviour and physiological

This is the fifth year of a multi-year study to assess smolt migration characteristics and cumulative detection rates of naturally-produced chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), from northeast Oregon streams. The goal of this project is to develop an understanding of interpopulation and interannual variation in several early life history characteristics of naturally-produced chinook salmon from the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River subbasins. This project provides information useful in the recovery of listed Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon. Specific populations included in the study are (1) Catherine Creek, (2) upper Grande Ronde River, (3) Lostine River, (4) Imnaha River, (5) Wenaha River, and (6) Minam River. In this document, we present findings from research completed in 1996. Naturally-produced chinook salmon populations in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River subbasins have declined drastically in recent years due in part to habitat alterations and hydropower development. Declines have continued despite extensive mitigation efforts, including fish passage improvements, artificial production, supplementation, and habitat modification (BPA Division of Fish and Wildlife 1990). Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon (hereafter referred to as chinook salmon), which include naturally-produced chinook salmon in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River subbasins, have been listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as threatened or endangered since 1992.

The main goal of the study performed in 2014-2015 at the test site located in the abandoned zone of the Iput river basin was to study detailed patterns of Cs-137 redistribution along the terrace slope and the adjacent floodplain depression almost 30 years after the Chernobyl accident. Cs-137 surface activity was measured with the help of modified field gamma-spectrometer Violinist III (USA) in a grid 2 m x 2 m within the test plot sized 10 m x 24 m. Gamma-spectrometry was accompanied by topographical survey. Cs-137 depth distribution was studied by soil core sampling in increments of 2 cm and 5 cm down to 40 cm depth. Cs-137 activity in soil samples was measured in laboratory conditions by Nokia gamma-spectrometer. The results showed distinct natural dissimilarity of Cs-137 surface activity within the undisturbed soil of slope. Cs-137 depth migration in successive soil cores marked different patterns correlated with the position in relief. In particular cores Cs-137 depth variation correlated with water regime that shows that the processes of secondary distribution of Cs-137 along the slope obviously depend upon water migration. The finding is important for understanding of regularities in patterns of radiocesium spatial distribution.

Historic accounts and recent observations of Pacific lampreys (Lampetra tridentata) at mainstem Columbia River dams indicate the number of Pacific lampreys migrating upriver has decreased dramatically over the last 60 years. Consequently, state, federal, and tribal governments have recently expressed concern for this species. Little is known about the biological and ecological characteristics of habitats suitable for upstream migrating Pacific lampreys. If rehabilitation efforts are to be done effectively and efficiently, we must gain knowledge of factors limiting survival and reproduction of Pacific lampreys. From data gathered in the first year of this project, we can for the first time, describe the timing, extent, and patterns of movements for Pacific lampreys. We have tested methods and gained information that will allow us to refine our objectives and approach in future work. Knowledge of behavior, timing, and the resulting quantification of habitat use will provide a means to assess the suitability of overwintering and spawning habitats and allow the establishment of goals for recovery projects. Further research is necessary, including multiple years of data collection, tracking of movement patterns through the spawning season, and more rigorously examining habitat use.

Electromyogram (EMG) radiotelemetry was used to estimate the swim speeds of spring Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha migrating upstream past a Columbia River dam. Electrodes from EMG transmitters were surgically implanted in the red muscle of fish captured at Bonneville Dam, and output from the tags was calibrated to defined swim speeds for each fish in a tunnel respirometer. The fish were then released below Bonneville Dam and radio-tracked as they migrated through the tailraces, fishways, and forebays of the dam. On average, swim speed was significantly higher when tagged salmon were moving through tailraces than when they were moving through other parts of the dam. Specifically, swim speeds for fish in tailraces (106.4 cm/s) were 23% higher than those of fish in fishways (84.9 cm/s) and 32% higher than those of fish in forebays (80.2 cm/s). Swim speeds were higher in fishways during the day than during the night, but there were no diel differences in swim speeds in tailraces and forebays. During dam passage, Chinook salmon spent the most time in tailraces, followed by fishways and forebays. ?? Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 2006.

Electromyogram (EMG) radiotelemetry was used to examine the amount of energy expended by spring Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha migrating upstream past a Columbia River dam. Electrodes from EMG transmitters were surgically implanted in the red muscle of fish captured at Bonneville Dam and output from the tags was calibrated to defined swim speeds for each fish in a tunnel respirometer. The fish were then released below Bonneville Dam and radio-tracked as they migrated through the tailraces, fishways, and forebays of the dam. On average, the rate of aerobic energy used by spring Chinook salmon was significantly higher when they were moving through tailraces (1.27 kcal•kg-1•h-1) than when they were moving through other parts of the dam. Specifically, the rate of aerobic energy use for fish in tailraces was 14% higher than that used by fish in fishways (1.11 kcal•kg-1•h-1) and 27% higher than the rate used by fish in forebays (1.00 kcal•kg-1•h-1). Most (80%) of the aerobic energy used by fish to pass this dam was expended in the tailrace (25.5 kcal/kg), while only 18% (5.6 kcal/kg) and 2% (0.6 kcal/kg) were used in the fishways and forebays.

The Secor Dam was a low-head weir on an urbanized river that was constructed in 1928 and removed in 2007 for a variety of reasons: (1) it was obsolete and a potential liability to the owner, (2) removal would enhance aquatic ecosystems and fisheries, and (3) removal would improve downstream water quality and help restore downstream sediment budgets. In sum, it was a “river restoration” effort in an urbanized river corridor, with extensive public involvement. Detailed pre- and post-dam removal studies included field sedimentological methods such as trenching and sediment coring. Historical documents assisted in locating the pre-1928 channel and documented that urbanization of this region post-1928 resulted in channel armoring. Detailed channel surveys showed that the result of the dam removal was initial incision and channel widening in the former reservoir, as expected. However, nickzone migration upstream stalled on an exhumed woody peat layer. Studies subsequently showed that this was a hydromorphic paleosol that developed during pre-land clearance times that was buried beneath 2.5-m of anthropogenic or legacy sediments, much of that deposited since about 1950. Today, the river flows through an incised channel between fill-terraces comprised of legacy sediments. Additional coring and survey work documented that the channel lateral migration rates averaged 0.32 m/yr over the past approximately 80 years, and that the meander wavelength appears to be changing in response to dam removal. Public hearings about “river restoration” made it clear that the public has a vision of a restored river that in fact never existed. Significant channel bank erosion and lateral channel migration should be expected until such time as the river system reworks and removes accumulated legacy sediments currently in intrabasinal storage. This finding has important implications in an urbanized setting, where bank erosion is perceived to be a threat to infrastructure and property

Laboratory incubation experiments were performed to identify diurnal characteristics of migration and transformation of mercury (Hg) and effects of nitrate (NO3(-), a hydroxyl radical donor by photolysis) in Jialing River, Chongqing, China. It is found that there are strong diurnal signals of [monomethylmercury (MMHg)] and [reactive Hg (RHg)] in sediment, pore water and overlying water, which suggest that solar radiation may be an important variable that involved in aquatic Hg cycling. Photo-degradation (PD) of MMHg plays a key role in Hg cycling in water systems, and the rates are measured to be 38.22% in March, 2012. The presence of NO3(-) has a marked effect on MMHg PD under solar radiation, and affects inorganic species reducting to Hg(0), resulting in more Hg species available for methylation. So NO3(-) is an important factor for Hg cycling in water systems. Diffusive flux of MMHg, RHg and dissolved Hg (DHg) are 1.92-2.34, 3.43-3.64 and 3.04-5.71 ng m(-2) d(-1) at daytime, and 6.04-6.92, 3.22-3.25 and 7.79-8.37 ng m(-2) d(-1) at nighttime, respectively, implying that sediment is a major Hg source for shallow-water area in Jialing River at springtime. These results show great importance for understanding Hg biogeochemical processes in clear, oligotrophic, shallow, sluggish, and agriculturally-impacted waters.

The majority of the fish passages built in the Neotropical region are characterised by low efficiency and high selectivity; in many cases, the benefits to fish populations are uncertain. Studies conducted in the Canal da Piracema at Itaipu dam on the Parana River indicate that the system component designated as the Discharge channel in the Bela Vista River (herein named Canal de deságue no rio Bela Vista or CABV), a 200 m long technical section, was the main barrier to the upstream migration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of restriction imposed by the CABV on upstream movements of Prochilodus lineatus and Leporinus elongatus, Characiformes. Fish were tagged with passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) and released both downstream and upstream of this critical section. Individuals of both species released downstream of the CABV took much more time to reach the upper end of the system (43.6 days vs. 15.9 days), and passed in much lower proportions (18% vs. 60.8%) than those tagged upstream of this component. Although more work is needed to differentiate between fishway effects and natural variation in migratory motivation, the results clearly demonstrate passage problems at the CABV.

In the past decade tens of millions of dollars have beenspent by water resource agencies in California to restore the nativesalmon fishery in the San Joaquin River and its major tributaries. Anexcavated deep water ship channel (DWSC), through which the river runs onits way to the Bay/Delta and Pacific Ocean, experiences episodes of lowdissolved oxygen which acts as a barrier to anadromous fish migration anda threat to the long-term survival of the salmon run. An emergencyresponse management system is under development to forecast theseepisodes of low dissolved oxygen and to deploy measures that will raisedissolved oxygen concentrations to prevent damage to the fisheryresource. The emergency response management system has been designed tointeract with a real-time water quality monitoring network and is servedby a comprehensive data management and forecasting model toolbox. TheBay/Delta and Tributaries (BDAT) Cooperative Data Management System is adistributed, web accessible database that contains terabytes ofinformation on all aspects of the ecology of the Bay/Delta and upperwatersheds. The complexity of the problem dictates data integration froma variety of monitoring programs. A unique data templating system hasbeen constructed to serve the needs of cooperating scientists who wish toshare their data and to simplify and streamline data uploading into themaster database. In this paper we demonstrate the utility of such asystem in providing decision support for management of the San JoaquinRiver fishery. We discuss how the system might be expanded to havefurther utility in coping with other emergencies and threats to watersupply system serving California's costal communities.

This article provides an assessment of the impact of global fallout on (137)Cs contamination in the bottom sediments of Kara Sea. The erosiveness of 10th-level river basins was estimated by landscape-geochemical and geomorphological characteristics. All 10th-level basins (n=154) were separated into three groups: mountain, mountain-lowland and plain. Four different types of basins were identified depending on the geochemical conditions of the migration of radiocaesium in the plain and mountain-lowland. Classifications of types were carried out using the geographic information systems-based approach. The Ob River's macroarena covers 3.5 million km(2). Internal drainage basins cover 23 % of the macroarena and accumulate whole radiocaesium from the global fallout. The remaining territory is transitional for the (137)Cs. The field research works performed in the three plain first-level basins allow one to estimate the radiocaesium run-off. The calculations show that 7 % of (137)Cs was removed from the first-level basin in arable land. Accumulation of radiocaesium in the first-level basin under undisturbed forest is 99.8 %. The research shows that (137)Cs transfer from the humid basins is in the range of 6.9-25.5 TBq and for semi-humid basins 5.6-285.5 TBq. The areas of these basins cover 40 and 8 % of the Ob River's macroarena, respectively. Drainage lakes and reservoir drainage basins make up 22 % of the macroarena. Mountainous and semi-arid drainage basins cover 7 % of the macroarena.

East Seattle, Washington 98112-2097 for Walla Walla District Northwestern Division U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 201 North 3rd Walla Walla ...Clearwater Rivers. Annual report of research activities to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla , Washington. Connor, W. P., J. G. Sneva...Report of the National Marine Fisheries Service to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla , Washington. Marsh, D. M., J. R. Harmon, N. N

The Koongarra uranium deposit in Northern Australia provides a ‘natural analogue’ for processes that are of relevance for assessing the safety of radioactive waste disposal. In an international project extending over two decades, the Koongarra ore body was studied to increase the understanding of radionuclide migration and retention mechanisms that might occur in the vicinity of a geological repository. The research effort included extensive characterisation of the geological, hydrological and geochemical conditions at the site. Patterns of the distribution of radionuclides (predominantly members of the 238U decay chain, but also the rare isotopes 239Pu, 99Tc and 129I) were studied in both solid and groundwater phases. The project included detailed studies of uranium adsorption on mineral surfaces, and of subsequent processes that may lead to long-term uranium immobilisation. Numerous models for uranium migration were developed during the project. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research at Koongarra, and assesses the value of the site for integrating the results of a complex series of laboratory, modelling and field studies. The insights gained from this review of the Koongarra project may assist in maximising the potential scientific benefit of future natural analogue studies.

We consider Neumann boundary value problems of the form uxx+f(x, u, ux)=0 on the unit interval 0⩽x⩽1 for a certain class of dissipative nonlinearities f. Associated to these problems we have (i) meanders in the phase space (u, ux)∈R2, which are connected oriented simple curves on the plane intersecting a fixed oriented line (the u-axis) in n points corresponding to the solutions; and (ii) meander permutations πf∈S(n) obtained by ordering the intersection points first along the u-axis and then along the meander. The meander permutation πf is the permutation defined by the braid of solutions in the space (x, u, ux). It was recently shown by Fiedler and Rocha that πf determines the global attractor of the dynamical system generated by the semilinear parabolic differential equation ut=uxx+f(x, u, ux), up to C0 orbit equivalence. Therefore, these permutations are of considerable importance in the classification problem of the (Morse-Smale) attractors for these dynamical systems. In this paper we present a purely combinatorial characterization of the set of meander permutations that are realizable by the above boundary value problems.

Accounting for the current knowledge of the stable atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) turbulence structure and characteristics, a new formulation for the meandering parameters to be used in a Lagrangian stochastic particle turbulent diffusion model has been derived. That is, expressions for the parameters controlling the meandering oscillation frequency in low wind speed stable conditions are proposed. The classical expression for the meandering autocorrelation function, the turbulent statistical diffusion theory and ABL similarity theory are employed to estimate these parameters. In addition, this new parameterization was introduced into a particular Lagrangian stochastic particle model, which is called Iterative Langevin solution for low wind, validated with the data of Idaho National Laboratory experiments, and compared with others diffusion models. The results of this new approach are shown to agree with the measurements of Idaho experiments and also with those of the other atmospheric diffusion models. The major advance shown in this study is the formulation of the meandering parameters expressed in terms of the characteristic scales (velocity and length scales) describing the physical structure of a turbulent stable boundary layer. These similarity formulas can be used to simulate meandering enhanced diffusion of passive scalars in a low wind speed stable ABL.

Strong feedbacks between river braiding and vegetation processes are now well-recognised. Recently, this has been illustrated in the notion of biogeomorphic succession, the transition from pioneer vegetation establishment to a fully-developed floodplain forest ecosystem. This succession also results in important vegetation-mediated feedbacks, through bank stabilisation and the capture of organic matter and fine sediments, stimulating soil formation and further enhancing the succession process itself. However, there are few studies that have addressed what this succession might mean for the evolution of channel planform, and almost no studies that have considered how this succession rates might be mediated by groundwater. The latter is a key concern for gravel-bed rivers with low water retention capacity. Here, we present results from a 2 km length of braiding-wandering river system in Switzerland (Allondon River). We show that the spatio-temporal dynamics of the groundwater table drives the biogeomorphic succession process at different rates, leading to very different river channel pattern responses. In the upper braiding-anastomosing part of the reach, the groundwater table is deeper. Here, dendrochronological data show that rates of pioneer vegetation growth are strongly dependent upon groundwater table fluctuations. Bank resistance modelling shows that vegetation-reinforcement of bank resistance is below its maximum. In the meandering lower part of the reach, with a mature floodplain forest, tree growth rates are independent of groundwater fluctuations, because trees can almost always access the higher groundwater table. Bank resistance is at its maximum. Through time, in response to disturbance frequency, the meandering tendency has migrated upstream. Thus, our results suggest that groundwater access modulates biogeomorphic succession processes in ways that determine the resultant river channel pattern.

During the parr-to-smolt transformation (smoltification) of juvenile salmonids, preadaptive changes in osmoregulatory and ionoregulatory ability are regulated in part by the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) axis. If food intake is sufficient, plasma IGF-I increases during smoltification. On the other hand, plasma IGF-I typically decreases in fasting fish and other vertebrate animals. Because food availability is limited for juvenile salmonids undertaking an extended 6- to 12-week spring migration to and through the Snake-Columbia River hydropower system (northwestern USA), IGF-I concentrations might be expected to decrease, potentially compromising seawater tolerance. To address this possibility, yearling chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha reared in three Snake River Basin hatcheries were sampled before release and at two downstream dams. Dry masses of migrating fish either did not increase during the migration (in 2000, an average-flow year), or decreased significantly (in 2001, a low-flow year). In both years, plasma IGF-I levels were significantly higher (1.6-fold in 2000, 3.7-fold in 2001) for fish sampled at the last dam on the lower Columbia River than for fish sampled prior to release. Plasma IGF-I concentrations in migrating fish may, nonetheless, have been nutritionally down-regulated to some degree, because plasma IGF-I concentrations in juvenile chinook salmon captured at a Snake River dam and transported to the laboratory increased in fed groups, but decreased in unfed groups. The ability of migrating smolts to maintain relatively elevated IGF-I levels despite restricted food intake and loss of body mass is likely related to smoltification-associated changes in hormonal balance. ?? 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Fifty-two female American shad (Alosa sapidissima) were collected during the spring of 1977 at two sites on the lower Hudson River, 27 miles and 75 miles from the river mouth. The fish were extracted with hexane, and the extracts were analyzed by electron-capture gas chromatography (EC-GC) and by GC/mass spectrometry (MS), PCBs were quantitated by EC-GC, and the concentrations were compared by fish length and by site. Fish collected from the downstream site contained a mean PCB concentration of 2.0 +/- 1.0 microgram/g, wet weight; fish from the upstream site contained a mean PCB concentration of 6.1 +/- 2.6 microgram/g, wet weight. Aliquots of the hexane extracts were fractionated before analysis by GC/MS. The presence of PCBs was confirmed, and DDE and the alkane series from C22 through C26 were detected. American shad are saltwater fish that only enter fresh water to spawn. Because they do not feed in fresh water before spawning, they may be used as an indicator of water contamination.

Northern squawfish Ptychocheilus oregonensis movements were monitored downstream of two lower Snake River dams during the juvenile salmonid migrations of 1992 and 1993. During a high flow year in 1993, the abundance of squawfish in the tailrace of Lower Granite Dam peaked in July, after the majority of juveniles had moved past Lower Granite Dam, and peak abundance was inversely related to river discharge. Few squawfish moved into the tailrace of Ice Harbor Dam in 1993 because of the extended period of spill. Distributions of squawfish in the tailrace of Lower Granite Dam varied between and within years and shifted in response to changing prey densities, flow patterns, water temperature, and diel cycles, but fish consistently used low velocity habitats. Data from Ice Harbor Dam is less extensive, but squawfish distributions there appeared to be affected by changing flow patterns and fish used low velocity habitats. The changes in distribution and abundance of squawfish in tailrace areas are evidence that predation on seaward migrating salmonids depends on the timing of migration and size and timing of runoff. Juvenile salmonids migrating in the spring and early summer will probably be less affected by squawfish predation in tailrace areas than salmon that migrate later in the summer.

River training operations, such as meander cutoff, initiated for navigational purposes often lead to dramatic changes in the streamwise profiles (Hooke, 1986, Kesel, 2003; Kiss et al., 2007). Meander correction affects both the hydraulic and morphodynamical behavior of the modified branches that sedimentation occurs in time, while newly built canals usually experience degradation (Jugaru et. al, 2006). This study reports and analyzes new data on the hydrological and sedimentary processes at work during a morphogenic flood in a large modified meander (the Mahmudia meander) of the St. George branch, the southern branch of the Danube Delta. The 100-year recurrent flood that occurred in 2006 offered an exceptional opportunity for scanning different cross sections of the Mahmudia meander system by means of the emerging Doppler profiler (aDcp) technology in order to analyze the impact on sedimentation and dynamic processes in the study area. The Mahmudia study site corresponds to a vast natural meander which was cut off in 1984-1988 by an artificial canal opened to shipping. The meander correction accelerated fluxes through the artificial canal and dramatically enhanced deposition in the former meander. After his formation, the cutoff meander acted as sediment storage locations, essentially removing channel and point bar sediments from the active sediment budget of the main channel (Popa, 1997). During the one-hundred-year recurrent flood in April 2006, bathymetry, flow velocity and discharge data were acquired across several sections of both natural and artificial channels with an acoustic Doppler current profiler (aDcp Workhorse Sentinel 600 kHz, Teledyne RDI) in order to investigate the distribution of the flow and sediment and his impact on sedimentation in a channelized reach and its adjacent cutoff. The contrasting hydro-sedimentary processes at work in both channels and bifurcation/confluence nodal points are analyzed from the measured flux distribution

Floodplain forest of the Upper Mississippi River is important for songbirds during spring migration. However, the altered hydrology of this system and spread of reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) threaten tree diversity and long-term sustainability of this forest. We estimated tree preferences of songbirds during spring migration 2010–2013 to help guide management decisions that promote tree diversity and forest sustainability and to evaluate yearly variation in tree selection. We used the point center-quarter method to assess relative availability of tree species and tallied bird foraging observations on tree species as well as recording the phenophase of used trees on five 40 ha plots of contiguous floodplain forest between La Crosse, Wisconsin and New Albin, Iowa, from 15 April through 1 June. We quantified bird preferences by comparing proportional use of tree species by each bird species to estimates of tree species availability for all 4 y and for each year separately. Species that breed locally preferred silver maple (Acer saccharinum), which is dominant in this forest. The common transient migrant species and the suite of 17 transient wood warbler species preferred hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and oaks (Quercus spp.), which are limited to higher elevations on the floodplain. We observed earlier leaf development the warm springs of 2010 and 2012 and later leaf development the cold springs of 2011 and 2013. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata), American Redstart (S. ruticilla), Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) and Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), and the suite of transient migrant wood warblers spread their foraging efforts among tree species in colder springs and were more selective in warmer springs. All three of the important tree species are not regenerating well on the UMR and widespread die-off of silver maple is possible in 50 y without large scale management.

This report describes a field study by PNNL for Bonneville Power Administration in fall 2001 to study the migration and energy use of adult fall chinook salmon traveling up the Klickitat River to spawn. The salmon were tagged with surgically implanted electromyogram transmitters or gastrically implanted coded transmitters. Swim speed and aerobic and anaerobic energy use were determined for the fish as they attempted to pass three waterfalls on the lower Klickitat and as they traversed free-flowing stretches between and below the falls. Of the 35 EMG-tagged fish released near the mouth of the Klickitat, 40% passed the first falls, 36% passed the second falls, and 20% reached Lyle Falls but were unable to leap over. Mean swimming speeds ranged from as low as 52.6 cm/sec between falls to as high as 158.1 cm/sec at falls passage. Fish exhibited a higher percentage of occurrences of burst swimming while passing the falls than while between falls (58.9% versus 1.7%). However, fish expended more energy swimming the stretches between the falls than during actual falls passage (52.3-236.2 kcals versus 0.3-1.1 kcals). Male-female and day-night differences in falls passage success were noted. PNNL also examined energy costs and swimming speeds for fish released above Lyle Falls as they migrated to upstream spawning areas. This journey averaged 15.93 days at a mean rate of 2.36 km/day to travel a mean maximum of 37.6 km upstream at a total energy cost of approx 4,492 kcals (32% anaerobic/68% aerobic). When the salmon have expended the estimated 968 kcals needed to get through Bonneville Dam and the three falls on the Lower Klickitat, plus this 4,492 kcals to reach the spawning grounds, they are left with approximately 8 to 12% (480 to 742 kcals) of their energy reserves for spawning. A delay of 4 to 7 days along the lower Klickitat River could deplete their remaining energy reserves (at a rate of about 103 kcals/day), resulting in death before spawning would occur.

Vegetation exerts strong controls on fluvial sinuosity, providing bank stability and buffering surface runoff. These controls are manifest in densely vegetated landscapes, whereas sparsely vegetated fluvial systems have been so far overlooked. This study integrates remote sensing and gauging records of the meandering to wandering Fossálar River, a relatively steep-sloped (< 2.5%) Icelandic river featuring well-developed point bars (79%-85% of total active bar surface) despite the lack of thick, arborescent vegetation. Over four decades, fluctuations in the sinuosity index (1.15-1.43) and vegetation cover (63%-83%) are not significantly correlated (r = 0.28, p > 0.05), suggesting that relationships between the two are mediated by intervening variables and uncertain lag times. By comparison, discharge regime and fluvial planform show direct correlation over monthly to yearly time scales, with stable discharge stages accompanying the accretion of meander bends and peak floods related to destructive point-bar reworking. Rapid planform change is aided by the unconsolidated nature of unrooted alluvial banks, with recorded rates of lateral channel-belt migration averaging 18 m/yr. Valley confinement and channel mobility also control the geometry and evolution of individual point bars, with the highest degree of spatial geomorphic variability recorded in low-gradient stretches where lateral migration is unimpeded. Point bars in the Fossálar River display morphometric values comparable to those of other sparsely vegetated rivers, suggesting shared scalar properties. This conjecture prompts the need for more sophisticated integrations between remote sensing and gauging records on modern rivers lacking widespread plant life. While a large volume of experimental and field-based work maintains that thick vegetation has a critical role in limiting braiding, thus favouring sinuosity, this study demonstrates the stronger controls of discharge regime and alluvial morphology on

The dynamic nature of meandering channels has fascinated geomorphologists for decades; with the onset of remote sensing, and technological advances in field equipment, scientists are able to capture high-resolution data from the Earth's surface using cost-effective techniques that require minimal manual labour. Here we present a morphological assessment of three meander bends on the River Towy, Wales, using aerial photography captured by the Welsh Assembly Government and supplemented by data captured by a UAV. Migration rates and changes in channel length were measured between 1969 and 2016 and compared to a coupled discharge record to quantify the effects of discharge variability on the morphological evolution of the channel. A short-term (seasonal) assessment of channel change was conducted by comparing sub-metre resolution 3D point cloud and digital elevation models, generated using a UAV and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry. Our results suggest that discharge variability plays a crucial role in controlling the evolution of meandering planforms and can be an effective means of excavating floodplain material over relatively short timescales, although erosion rates can be suppressed by bankline roughness, which effectively disrupts outwardly directed flow momentum. These findings have implications for land managers and those modelling the effects of climate change on hydrological regimes which are ultimately used to forecast channel planform changes. Additionally, our results demonstrate the potential of low-cost field surveying techniques in producing high resolution models of landscape change.

Nucleospora salmonis is an intranuclear microsporidian that primarily infects lymphoblast cells and contributes to chronic lymphoblastosis and a leukemia-like condition in a range of salmonid species. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of N. salmonis in out-migrating juvenile hatchery and wild Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and steelhead O. mykiss from the Snake River in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. To achieve this goal, we first addressed the following concerns about current molecular diagnostic tests for N. salmonis: (1) nonspecific amplification patterns by the published nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) test, (2) incomplete validation of the published quantitative PCR (qPCR) test, and (3) whether N. salmonis can be detected reliably from nonlethal samples. Here, we present an optimized nPCR protocol that eliminates nonspecific amplification. During validation of the published qPCR test, our laboratory developed a second qPCR test that targeted a different gene sequence and used different probe chemistry for comparison purposes. We simultaneously evaluated the two different qPCR tests for N. salmonis and found that both assays were highly specific, sensitive, and repeatable. The nPCR and qPCR tests had good overall concordance when DNA samples derived from both apparently healthy and clinically diseased hatchery rainbow trout were tested. Finally, we demonstrated that gill snips were a suitable tissue for nonlethal detection of N. salmonis DNA in juvenile salmonids. Monitoring of juvenile salmonid fish in the Snake River over a 3-year period revealed low prevalence of N. salmonis in hatchery and wild Chinook salmon and wild steelhead but significantly higher prevalence in hatchery-derived steelhead. Routine monitoring of N. salmonis is not performed for all hatchery steelhead populations. At present, the possible contribution of this pathogen to delayed mortality of steelhead has not been determined.

This study was conducted by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in contractual agreement with Bonneville Power Administration and addresses measure 804(a)(9) of the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Objectives were to determine instream flow needs in Kootenai River tributaries to maintain successful fish migration, spawning and rearing habitat of game fish, evaluate existing resident and rearing fish populations, and compile hydrologic and fishery information required to secure legal reservation of water for the fishery resource.

Executive Summary Neotropical migrant birds make choices about which habitats are most likely to provide successful foraging locations during migration, but little is known about how these birds recognize and process environmental clues that indicate the presence of prey species. Aspects of tree phenology, notably flowering of trees along the lower Colorado River corridor, coincide with the migratory stopovers of leaf-gleaning insectivorous songbirds and may be an important indicator of arthropod prey species availability. Shifting tree flowering and leaf flush during the spring migration period presents avian insectivores with an assortment of foraging opportunities. During two field seasons at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona, we examined riparian tree species to test whether leaf-gleaning insectivorous birds are attracted to the flowering condition of trees in choosing foraging sites. We predicted that flowering trees would host more insect prey resources, would thus show increased visit rates, length of stays and attack ratios of migrant avian insectivores, and that those arthropods would be found in the stomach contents of the birds. Paired trees of honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), displaying heavy and light degrees of flowering were observed to test these predictions. To test whether birds are tracking arthropods directly or are using flowers as a proximate cue, we removed flowers from selected trees and paired these treated trees with neighboring high flowering trees, which served as controls. Avian foraging behavior, avian diets, arthropods, and phenology data were collected at the same time to control for temporal differences in insect availability, plant phenology, and differences in stopover arrivals of birds. We documented five patterns from this study: 1) Higher abundance and richness of arthropods were found on honey mesquite trees with greater numbers of flowers. 2) Arthropod abundance and richness increased as flowering

SL2-81-189 (22 June 1973) --- The well defined meanderings of the Mississippi River, just to the south of St. Louis, MO (38.5N, 90.5W) can easily be seen as curved lines and loops roughly paralleling the present river in this view showing the former water channels. The vegetated bluffs on either side of the river define the limits of the meanders where the rich river flood plain offers some of the most fertile land for agriculture although flooding remains a constant threat. Photo credit: NASA

In this study we analyze natural complex signals employing the Hilbert-Huang spectral analysis. Specifically, low wind meandering meteorological data are decomposed into turbulent and non turbulent components. These non turbulent movements, responsible for the absence of a preferential direction of the horizontal wind, provoke negative lobes in the meandering autocorrelation functions. The meandering characteristic time scales (meandering periods) are determined from the spectral peak provided by the Hilbert-Huang marginal spectrum. The magnitudes of the temperature and horizontal wind meandering period obtained agree with the results found from the best fit of the heuristic meandering autocorrelation functions. Therefore, the new method represents a new procedure to evaluate meandering periods that does not employ mathematical expressions to represent observed meandering autocorrelation functions.

It is necessary to improve our understanding of the exchange of dissolved constituents between surface and subsurface waters in river systems in order to better evaluate the fate of water-borne contaminants and nutrients and their effects on water quality and aquatic ecosystems. Here we present a model that can predict hyporheic exchange at the bed-form-to-reach scale using readily measurable system characteristics. The objective of this effort was to compare subsurface flow induced at scales ranging from very small scale bed forms up to much larger planform geomorphic features such as meanders. In order to compare exchange consistently over this range of scales, we employed a spectral scaling approach as the basis for a generalized analysis of topography-induced stream-subsurface exchange. The spectral model involves a first-order approximation for local flow-boundary interactions but is fully three-dimensional and includes the lateral hyporheic zone in addition to the flow directly beneath the streambed. The primary model input parameters are stream velocity and slope, sediment permeability and porosity, and detailed measurements of the stream channel topography. The primary outputs are the distribution of water flux across the stream channel boundary, the resulting pore water flow paths, and the subsurface residence time distribution. We tested the bed-form-exchange component of the model using a highly detailed two-dimensional data set for exchange with ripples and dunes and then applied the model to a three-dimensional meandering stream in a laboratory flume. Having spatially explicit information allowed us to evaluate the contributions of both gravitational and current-driven hyporheic flow through various classes of stream channel features including ripples, dunes, bars, and meanders. The model simulations indicate that all scales of topography between ripples and meanders have a significant effect on pore water flow fields and residence time distributions

This article on population migration from Central Gansu, China, which is made up of 18 impoverished counties in Dingxi Region, to Hexi in the Yellow River Valley focuses on the basic mechanisms and characteristics of population migration, the effects of migration on adaptability, the return rate, and the socioeconomic and ecological benefits of migration. Analysis is based on logical deduction and empirical evidence. The reasons for migration are poverty and unchecked population growth. Population in Central Gansu doubled (110.1%) between 1952-83, while the population in the province increased 86.67% and in the country 83.52%. Per capita grain allocations in Dingxi and the marginal utility of agricultural production declined. Population pressure led to short supplies of food and fuel and excessive land reclamation, which produced soil erosion, and a downward spiral. Migrants were attracted to Hexi because of favorable farming conditions and a developed economy. Subsidies were used to encourage people to migrate voluntarily. 31,485 people migrated to the Hexi Corridor in 1988. 4450 came from Huining County and 3743 from Dingxi. Most went to Jiuquan (17,490 people), and 7,357 migrated to Zhongye, both areas with good irrigation facilities. 78.33% of the migrants were individually placed and 21.67% were placed as groups in "hanging" villages of 320/village. The inter-regional migration rate was 85.27% between 1983-86 in Jiuquan region, or 14,000 people. Migrants found their living conditions to be greatly improved. Per capita income increased 12.8 times from 497.5 yuan in 1983, while the income of nonmigrants underwent only a 4.45-fold increase. There were also differences in grain allocation. Jiuquan had a low return migration rate of 14.73% between 1983-86. Variations occur from region to region due to excessive economic disparity, incomplete basic facilities, and forced group migration. The annual yield of investment in migration was 19.87%, which makes the

Arthrogenic alphaviruses, such as Ross River virus (RRV), chikungunya, Sindbis, mayaro and o'nyong-nyong viruses circulate endemically worldwide, frequently causing outbreaks of polyarthritis. The exact mechanisms of how alphaviruses induce polyarthritis remain ill defined, although macrophages are known to play a key role. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an important cytokine involved in rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis. Here, we characterize the role of MIF in alphavirus-induced arthritides using a mouse model of RRV-induced arthritis, which has many characteristics of RRV disease in humans. RRV-infected WT mice developed severe disease associated with up-regulated MIF expression in serum and tissues, which corresponded to severe inflammation and tissue damage. MIF-deficient (MIF(-/-)) mice developed mild disease accompanied by a reduction in inflammatory infiltrates and muscle destruction in the tissues, despite having viral titers similar to WT mice. In addition, reconstitution of MIF into MIF(-/-) mice exacerbated RRV disease and treatment of mice with MIF antagonist ameliorated disease in WT mice. Collectively, these findings suggest that MIF plays a critical role in determining the clinical severity of alphavirus-induced musculoskeletal disease and may provide a target for the development of antiviral pharmaceuticals. The prospect being that early treatment with MIF-blocking pharmaceuticals may curtail the debilitating arthritis associated with alphaviral infections.

For juvenile chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, sockeye salmon O. nerka, and steelhead O. mykiss that migrate through reservoirs, hydroelectric projects, and free-flowing sections of the Snake and Columbia Rivers, survival estimates are essential to develop effective strategies for recovering depressed stocks. Many management strategies were based on estimates of system survival (Raymond 1979; Sims and Ossiander 1981) derived in a river system considerably different from today's (Williams and Matthews 1995; Williams et al. 2001). Knowledge of the magnitude, locations, and causes of smolt mortality under present passage conditions, and under conditions projected for the future, are necessary to develop strategies that will optimize smolt survival during migration. From 1993 through 2002, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the University of Washington (UW) demonstrated the feasibility of using three statistical models to estimate survival of PIT-tagged (Prentice et al. 1990a) juvenile salmonids passing through Snake River dams and reservoirs (Iwamoto et al. 1994; Muir et al. 1995, 1996, 2001a, 2003; Smith et al. 1998, 2000a,b; Hockersmith et al. 1999; Zabel et al. 2001, 2002). Evaluation of assumptions for these models indicated that all were generally satisfied, and accurate and precise survival estimates were obtained. In 2003, NMFS and UW completed the eleventh year of the study. Flow levels during the early portion of the 2003 spring migration were similar to 2002, and only slightly higher than in the drought conditions during 2001. However, flow levels were much greater during the later part of the migration in 2003. Spill levels were similar to 2002, much higher than in 2001. Research objectives were to: (1) estimate reach survival and travel time in the Snake and Columbia Rivers throughout the yearling chinook salmon and steelhead migrations; (2) evaluate relationships between survival estimates and migration conditions; and (3) evaluate

The migration of Siamese mud carp (Henicorhynchus siamensis and H. lobatus), two of the most economically important fish species in the Mekong River, was studied using an otolith microchemistry technique. Fish and river water samples were collected in seven regions throughout the whole basin in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia over a 4 year study period. There was coherence between the elements in the ambient water and on the surface of the otoliths, with strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba) showing the strongest correlation. The partition coefficients were 0.409-0.496 for Sr and 0.055 for Ba. Otolith Sr-Ba profiles indicated extensive synchronized migrations with similar natal origins among individuals within the same region. H. siamensis movement has been severely suppressed in a tributary system where a series of irrigation dams has blocked their migration. H. lobatus collected both below and above the Khone Falls in the mainstream Mekong exhibited statistically different otolith surface elemental signatures but similar core elemental signatures. This result suggests a population originating from a single natal origin but bypassing the waterfalls through a passable side channel where a major hydroelectric dam is planned. The potential effects of damming in the Mekong River are discussed.

The migration of Siamese mud carp (Henicorhynchus siamensis and H. lobatus), two of the most economically important fish species in the Mekong River, was studied using an otolith microchemistry technique. Fish and river water samples were collected in seven regions throughout the whole basin in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia over a 4 year study period. There was coherence between the elements in the ambient water and on the surface of the otoliths, with strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba) showing the strongest correlation. The partition coefficients were 0.409–0.496 for Sr and 0.055 for Ba. Otolith Sr-Ba profiles indicated extensive synchronized migrations with similar natal origins among individuals within the same region. H. siamensis movement has been severely suppressed in a tributary system where a series of irrigation dams has blocked their migration. H. lobatus collected both below and above the Khone Falls in the mainstream Mekong exhibited statistically different otolith surface elemental signatures but similar core elemental signatures. This result suggests a population originating from a single natal origin but bypassing the waterfalls through a passable side channel where a major hydroelectric dam is planned. The potential effects of damming in the Mekong River are discussed. PMID:25099147

In this paper, we propose an approach of optimization of meander line antennas by using genetic algorithm. Such antennas are used in RFID applications. As opposed to other approaches for meander antennas, we propose the use of only two optimization objectives, i.e. gain and size. As an example, we have optimized a single meander dipole antenna, resonating at 869 MHz.

Acoustic telemetry was used to obtain the movement histories of 915 juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) through the lower San Joaquin River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California, in 2008. Data were analyzed within a release-recapture framework to estimate survival, route distribution, and detection probabilities among three migration pathways through the Delta. The pathways included the primary route through the San Joaquin River and two less direct routes (Old River and Turner Cut). Strong inferences about survival were limited by premature tag failure, but estimates of fish distribution among migration routes should be unaffected by tag failure. Based on tag failure tests (N = 66 tags), we estimated that only 55-78 percent of the tags used in this study were still functioning when the last fish was detected exiting the study area 15 days after release. Due to premature tag failure, our 'survival' estimates represent the joint probability that both the tag and fish survived, not just survival of fish. Low estimates of fish-tag survival could have been caused by fish mortality or fish travel times that exceeded the life of the tag, but we were unable to differentiate between the two. Fish-tag survival through the Delta (from Durham Ferry to Chipps Island by all routes) ranged from 0.05 +or- 0.01 (SE) to 0.06 +or- 0.01 between the two weekly release groups. Among the three migration routes, fish that remained in the San Joaquin River exhibited the highest joint fish-tag survival (0.09 +or- 0.02) in both weeks, but only 22-33 percent of tagged fish used this route, depending on the week of release. Only 4-10 percent (depending on week) of tagged fish traveled through Turner Cut, but no tagged fish that used this route were detected exiting the Delta. Most fish (63-68 percent, depending on week of release) migrated through Old River, but fish-tag survival through this route (0.05 +or- 0.01) was only about one-half that of fish that

Strong waves in the mid-latitude circulation have been linked to extreme surface weather and thus changes in waviness could have serious consequences for society. Several theories have been proposed which could alter waviness, including tropical sea surface temperature anomalies or rapid climate change in the Arctic. However, so far it remains unclear whether any changes in waviness have actually occurred. Here we propose a novel meandering index which captures the maximum waviness in geopotential height contours at any given day, using all information of the full spatial position of each contour. Data are analysed on different time scale (from daily to 11 day running means) and both on hemispheric and regional scales. Using quantile regressions, we analyse how seasonal distributions of this index have changed over 1979-2015. The most robust changes are detected for autumn which has seen a pronounced increase in strongly meandering patterns at the hemispheric level as well as over the Eurasian sector. In summer for both the hemisphere and the Eurasian sector, significant downward trends in meandering are detected on daily timescales which is consistent with the recently reported decrease in summer storm track activity. The American sector shows the strongest increase in meandering in the warm season: in particular for 11 day running mean data, indicating enhanced amplitudes of quasi-stationary waves. Our findings have implications for both the occurrence of recent cold spells and persistent heat waves in the mid-latitudes.

In 2000, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Washington completed the eight year of a study to estimate survival of juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) passing through dams and reservoirs on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. A total of 20,313 hatchery steelhead were tagged with passive integrated transpoder (PIT) tags and released at Lower Granite Dam for reach survival estimation. They did not PIT tag any yearlying chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) for reach survival estimates in 2000 because sufficient numbers for these estimates were available from other studies. Primary research objectives in 2000 were (1) to estimate reach and project survival in the Snake and Columbia Rivers throughout the yearling chinook salmon and steelhead migrations, and (2) to evaluate the survival-estimation models under prevailing conditions. In addition, they estimated survival from point of release to Lower Granite Dam and below for chinook salmon, steelhead, and sockeye salmon (O.nerka) PIT tagged and released at Snake River basin hatcheries and chinook salmon and steelhead PIT tagged and released at Snake River basin hatcheries and chinook salmon and steelhead PIT tagged and released at Snake River basin smolt traps. This report provides reach survival and travel time estimates for 2000 for PIT-tagged yearling chinook salmon and steelhead (hatchery and wild) in the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Results are reported primarily in the form of tables and figures. Further details on methodology and statistical models used are provided in previous reports cited in the text.

Populations of many shorebird species are declining; habitat loss and degradation are among the leading causes for these declines. Shorebirds use a variety of habitats along interior migratory routes including managed moist soil units, natural wetlands, sandbars, and agricultural lands such as harvested rice fields. Less well known is shorebird use of freshwater aquaculture facilities, such as commercial cat- and crayfish ponds. We compared shorebird habitat use at drained aquaculture ponds, moist soil units, agricultural areas, sandbars and other natural habitat, and a sewage treatment facility in the in the lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (LMAV) during autumn 2009. Six species: Least Sandpiper ( Calidris minutilla), Killdeer ( Charadrius vociferous), Semipalmated Sandpiper ( Calidris pusilla), Pectoral Sandpiper ( C. melanotos), Black-necked Stilt ( Himantopus himantopus), and Lesser Yellowlegs ( Tringa flavipes), accounted for 92 % of the 31,165 individuals observed. Sewage settling lagoons (83.4, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 25.3-141.5 birds/ha), drained aquaculture ponds (33.5, 95 % CI 22.4-44.6 birds/ha), and managed moist soil units on public lands (15.7, CI 11.2-20.3 birds/ha) had the highest estimated densities of shorebirds. The estimated 1,100 ha of drained aquaculture ponds available during autumn 2009 provided over half of the estimated requirement of 2,000 ha by the LMAV Joint Venture working group. However, because of the decline in the aquaculture industry, autumn shorebird habitats in the LMAV may be limited in the near future. Recognition of the current aquaculture habitat trends will be important to the future management activities of federal and state agencies. Should these aquaculture habitat trends continue, there may be a need for wildlife biologists to investigate other habitats that can be managed to offset the current and expected loss of aquaculture acreages. This study illustrates the potential for freshwater aquaculture to

Populations of many shorebird species are declining; habitat loss and degradation are among the leading causes for these declines. Shorebirds use a variety of habitats along interior migratory routes including managed moist soil units, natural wetlands, sandbars, and agricultural lands such as harvested rice fields. Less well known is shorebird use of freshwater aquaculture facilities, such as commercial cat- and crayfish ponds. We compared shorebird habitat use at drained aquaculture ponds, moist soil units, agricultural areas, sandbars and other natural habitat, and a sewage treatment facility in the in the lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (LMAV) during autumn 2009. Six species: Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla), Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Pectoral Sandpiper (C. melanotos), Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), and Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), accounted for 92 % of the 31,165 individuals observed. Sewage settling lagoons (83.4, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 25.3-141.5 birds/ha), drained aquaculture ponds (33.5, 95 % CI 22.4-44.6 birds/ha), and managed moist soil units on public lands (15.7, CI 11.2-20.3 birds/ha) had the highest estimated densities of shorebirds. The estimated 1,100 ha of drained aquaculture ponds available during autumn 2009 provided over half of the estimated requirement of 2,000 ha by the LMAV Joint Venture working group. However, because of the decline in the aquaculture industry, autumn shorebird habitats in the LMAV may be limited in the near future. Recognition of the current aquaculture habitat trends will be important to the future management activities of federal and state agencies. Should these aquaculture habitat trends continue, there may be a need for wildlife biologists to investigate other habitats that can be managed to offset the current and expected loss of aquaculture acreages. This study illustrates the potential for freshwater aquaculture to

This report provides results from an ongoing project to monitor the migration behavior and survival of wild juvenile spring/summer Chinook salmon in the Snake River Basin. Data reported is from detections of PIT tagged fish during late summer 2007 through mid-2008. Fish were tagged in summer 2007 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Idaho and by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in Oregon. Our analyses include migration behavior and estimated survival of fish at instream PIT-tag monitors and arrival timing and estimated survival to Lower Granite Dam. Principal results from tagging and interrogation during 2007-2008 are listed below: (1) In July and August 2007, we PIT tagged and released 7,390 wild Chinook salmon parr in 12 Idaho streams or sample areas. (2) Overall observed mortality from collection, handling, tagging, and after a 24-hour holding period was 1.4%. (3) Of the 2,524 Chinook salmon parr PIT tagged and released in Valley Creek in summer 2007, 218 (8.6%) were detected at two instream PIT-tag monitoring systems in lower Valley Creek from late summer 2007 to the following spring 2008. Of these, 71.6% were detected in late summer/fall, 11.9% in winter, and 16.5% in spring. Estimated parr-to-smolt survival to Lower Granite Dam was 15.5% for the late summer/fall group, 48.0% for the winter group, and 58.5% for the spring group. Based on detections at downstream dams, the overall efficiency of VC1 (upper) or VC2 (lower) Valley Creek monitors for detecting these fish was 21.1%. Using this VC1 or VC2 efficiency, an estimated 40.8% of all summer-tagged parr survived to move out of Valley Creek, and their estimated survival from that point to Lower Granite Dam was 26.5%. Overall estimated parr-to-smolt survival for all summer-tagged parr from this stream at the dam was 12.1%. Development and improvement of instream PIT-tag monitoring systems continued throughout 2007 and 2008. (4) Testing of PIT-tag antennas in lower Big Creek during

The Le Sueur River is the primary sediment contributor to the Minnesota River, which is impaired by sediment under the Clean Water Act. The necessary first step toward developing a watershed management plan is identifying sediment sources and sinks throughout the basin. The focus of this study is to quantify the contribution of sediment from different sources in order to understand the broader problems affecting the larger Minnesota Basin. The lower Le Sueur River is actively incising in response to late Pleistocene baselevel fall on the Minnesota River, a result of the catastrophic draining of glacial Lake Agassiz. Potential sediment sources along the Le Sueur include high bluffs composed of highly consolidated Pre-Illinoisian, Illinoisian and Wisconsinin till and alluvial sediment, growing ravines and gullies, sediment exchange between the active channel and floodplains, as well as upland agricultural fields, which account for over 90% of the land surface. We applied side-scanning LiDAR to quantify the amount of sediment being eroded from the high bluffs and banks. To understand meandermigration rates as well as ravine and gully retreat rates, and to supplement the understanding of bluff retreat rates, we have used aerial LiDAR along with comparative analysis of historic aerial orthophotos. The aerial LiDAR will also be used to calculate the volume of sediment being stored in the floodplains and terraces along the river, which will be used to create a floodplain exchange model. Preliminary results indicate that bluff retreat rates could be as high as 0.4 meters per year and meander bend migration rates up to 3 meters per year in isolated reaches of the watershed. Data collected from each potential source will be combined to create an overall sediment routing model for the watershed.

In 2011, unusually high flows caused total dissolved gas (TDG) levels in the Columbia River, USA, to escalate well above the 120% regulatory limit that was imposed to prevent harmful impacts to aquatic organisms. After observing gas bubble trauma (GBT) in dead yearling Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (smolts) held in tanks, we compared estimated survival rates of acoustic-tagged in-river-migrating (IR) and transported (TR) smolts that were released below Bonneville Dam prior to and during the period of elevated TDG (>120%). The log odds of estimated daily survival in the lower river and plume was significantly lower for IR smolts that were released during elevated TDG (maximum possible exposure = 134%) than for IR smolts released when TDG was less than 120%. The TR smolts that were released 10-13 km below Bonneville Dam during elevated TDG had lower maximum possible exposure levels (126% TDG), and the log odds of estimated daily survival in the lower river and plume did not differ from that of TR smolts released when TDG was less than 120%. Direct mortality due to GBT is probably reduced in natural settings relative to laboratory experiments because smolts can move to deeper water, where pressure keeps gasses in solution, and can migrate downstream of the spillway, where TDG levels decrease as the river returns to equilibrium with the atmosphere. However, initially nonlethal GBT may reduce survival rates by increasing smolt susceptibility to predation and infection. Although our findings are limited by the observational nature of the study, our analysis is the first direct assessment of gas supersaturation's potential influence on survival of free-ranging smolts in the river and coastal ocean below a large dam. Experiments using simultaneous releases of control and gas-exposed groups are warranted and should consider the possibility that the chronic effects of TDG exposure on survival are important and persist into the early marine period. Received October

In 2005, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Washington completed the thirteenth year of a study to estimate survival and travel time of juvenile salmonids Oncorhynchus spp. passing through dams and reservoirs on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. All estimates were derived from detections of fish tagged with passive integrated transponder tags (PIT tags). We PIT tagged and released a total of 18,439 hatchery steelhead, 5,315 wild steelhead, and 6,964 wild yearling Chinook salmon at Lower Granite Dam in the Snake River. In addition, we utilized fish PIT tagged by other agencies at traps and hatcheries upstream from the hydropower system and at sites within the hydropower system in both the Snake and Columbia Rivers. PIT-tagged smolts were detected at interrogation facilities at Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, Ice Harbor, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville Dams and in the PIT-tag detector trawl operated in the Columbia River estuary. Survival estimates were calculated using a statistical model for tag-recapture data from single release groups (the ''single-release model''). Primary research objectives in 2005 were: (1) Estimate reach survival and travel time in the Snake and Columbia Rivers throughout the migration period of yearling Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha and steelhead O. mykiss. (2) Evaluate relationships between survival estimates and migration conditions. (3) Evaluate the survival estimation models under prevailing conditions. This report provides reach survival and travel time estimates for 2005 for PIT-tagged yearling Chinook salmon (hatchery and wild), hatchery sockeye salmon O. nerka, hatchery coho salmon O. kisutch, and steelhead (hatchery and wild) in the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Additional details on the methodology and statistical models used are provided in previous reports cited here.

Many fishes migrate extensively through stream networks, yet patterns are commonly described only in terms of the origin and destination of migration (e.g., between natal and feeding habitats). To better understand patterns of migration in bull trout, Salvelinus confluentus we studied the influences of body size (total length [TL]) and environmental...

A study was conducted to compare the travel times, detection probabilities, and survival of migrant hatchery-reared yearling chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha tagged with either gastrically or surgically implanted sham radio tags (with an imbedded passive integrated transponder [PIT] tag) with those of their cohorts tagged only with PIT tags in the Snake and Columbia rivers. Juvenile chinook salmon with gastrically implanted radio tags migrated significantly faster than either surgically radio-tagged or PIT-tagged fish, while migration rates were similar among surgically radio-tagged and PIT-tagged fish. The probabilities of PIT tag detection at downstream dams varied by less than 5% and were not significantly different among the three groups. Survival was similar among treatments for median travel times of less than approximately 6 d (migration distance of 106 km). However, for both gastrically and surgically radio-tagged fish, survival was significantly less than for PIT-tagged fish, for which median travel times exceeded approximately 10 d (migration distance of 225 km). The results of this study support the use of radio tags to estimate the survival of juvenile chinook salmon having a median fork length of approximately 150 mm (range, 127-285 mm) and a median travel time of migration of less than approximately 6 d.

The risk to human health of the annual sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) migration through Nebraska, which is thought to be a major source of fecal pollution of the central Platte River, is unknown. To better understand potential risks, the presence of Campylobacter species and three fecal indicator bacterial groups (Enterococcus spp., Escherichia coli, and Bacteroidetes) was assayed by PCR from crane excreta and water samples collected during their stopover at the Platte River, Nebraska, in 2010. Genus-specific PCR assays and sequence analyses identified Campylobacter jejuni as the predominant Campylobacter species in sandhill crane excreta. Campylobacter spp. were detected in 48% of crane excreta, 24% of water samples, and 11% of sediment samples. The estimated densities of Enterococcus spp. were highest in excreta samples (mean, 4.6 × 108 cell equivalents [CE]/g), while water samples contained higher levels of Bacteroidetes (mean, 5.1 × 105 CE/100 ml). Enterococcus spp., E. coli, and Campylobacter spp. were significantly increased in river water and sediments during the crane migration period, with Enterococcus sp. densities (∼3.3 × 105 CE/g) 2 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than those of Bacteroidetes (4.9 × 103 CE/g), E. coli (2.2 × 103 CE/g), and Campylobacter spp. (37 CE/g). Sequencing data for the 16S rRNA gene and Campylobacter species-specific PCR assays indicated that C. jejuni was the major Campylobacter species present in water, sediments, and crane excreta. Overall, migration appeared to result in a significant, but temporary, change in water quality in spring, when there may be a C. jejuni health hazard associated with water and crops visited by the migrating birds. PMID:23584775

In 2001, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Washington completed the ninth year of a study to estimate survival and travel time of juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) passing through dams and reservoirs on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. All estimates were derived from passive integrated transponder (PIT)-tagged fish. We PIT tagged and released at Lower Granite Dam a total of 17,028 hatchery and 3,550 wild steelhead. In addition, we utilized fish PIT tagged by other agencies at traps and hatcheries upstream of the hydropower system and sites within the hydropower system. PIT-tagged smolts were detected at interrogation facilities at Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville Dams and in the PIT-tag detector trawl operated in the Columbia River estuary. Survival estimates were calculated using the Single-Release Model. Primary research objectives in 2001 were to: (1) estimate reach and project survival and travel time in the Snake and Columbia Rivers throughout the yearling chinook salmon and steelhead migrations; (2) evaluate relationships between survival estimates and migration conditions; and (3) evaluate the survival-estimation models under prevailing conditions. This report provides reach survival and travel time estimates for 2001 for PIT-tagged yearling chinook salmon and steelhead (hatchery and wild) in the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Results are reported primarily in the form of tables and figures with a minimum of text. More details on methodology and statistical models used are provided in previous reports cited in the text. Results for summer-migrating chinook salmon will be reported separately.

In 2008, we sampled migrating juvenile Pacific salmonids Oncorhynchus spp. tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags using a surface pair trawl in the upper Columbia River estuary (rkm 61-83). The cod-end of the trawl was replaced with a cylindrical PIT-tag detection antenna with an 86-cm-diameter fish-passage opening and two detection coils connected in series. The pair trawl was 105 m long with a 91.5-m opening between the wings and a sample depth of 4.9 m. Also during 2008, we finalized the development of a prototype 'matrix' antenna, which was larger than previous antennas by a considerable magnitude. The matrix antenna consisted of 6 coils: a 3-coil front component and a 3-coil rear component, which were separated by 1.5-m of net mesh. The fish-passage opening was 2.5 m wide by 3.0 m tall and was attached to a standard-size pair trawl net. Intermittent sampling with a single crew began on 7 March and targeted yearling Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha and steelhead O. mykiss. Daily sampling using two crews began on 30 April and continued through 14 June; during this period we detected 2.7% of all juvenile salmonids previously detected at Bonneville Dam--a measure of sample efficiency. Sampling with a single crew continued through 20 August and targeted subyearling Chinook salmon. We detected 7,397 yearling Chinook salmon, 2,735 subyearling Chinook salmon, 291 coho salmon O. kisutch, 5,950 steelhead, and 122 sockeye salmon O. nerka in the upper estuary. We deployed the matrix antenna system and the older, cylindrical antenna system (86-cm-diameter fish-passage opening) simultaneously in mid-May 2008 to test matrix detection efficiency. The cylindrical antenna system had been used successfully in 2007 and early 2008. Because distribution of migrating salmonids in the estuary changes rapidly, we felt that a tandem sampling effort between the two systems was the only way to truly evaluate comparative detection efficiency. We deployed both systems within 1

The upstream migration of adult anadromous salmonids in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) has been dramatically altered and fish may be experiencing energetically costly delays at dams. To explore this notion, we estimated the energetic costs of migration and reproduction of Yakima River-bound spring Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha using a sequential analysis of their proximate composition (i.e., percent water, fat, protein, and ash). Tissues (muscle, viscera, and gonad) were sampled from fish near the start of their migration (Bonneville Dam), at a mid point (Roza Dam, 510 km upstream from Bonneville Dam) and from fresh carcasses on the spawning grounds (about 100 km above Roza Dam). At Bonneville Dam, the energy reserves of these fish were remarkably high, primarily due to the high percentage of fat in the muscle (18-20%; energy content over 11 kJ g-1). The median travel time for fish from Bonneville to Roza Dam was 27 d and ranged from 18 to 42 d. Fish lost from 6 to 17% of their energy density in muscle, depending on travel time. On average, fish taking a relatively long time for migration between dams used from 5 to 8% more energy from the muscle than faster fish. From the time they passed Bonneville Dam to death, these fish, depending on gender, used 95-99% of their muscle and 73-86% of their viscera lipid stores. Also, both sexes used about 32% of their muscular and very little of their visceral protein stores. However, we were unable to relate energy use and reproductive success to migration history. Our results suggest a possible influence of the CRB hydroelectric system on adult salmonid energetics.

River sensitivity describes the nature and rate of channel adjustments. An approach to analysis of geomorphic river sensitivity outlined in this paper relates potential sensitivity based on the expected capacity of adjustment for a river type to the recent history of channel adjustment. This approach was trialled to assess low, moderate and high geomorphic sensitivity for four different types of river (10 reaches in total) along the Lower Tongariro River, North Island, New Zealand. Building upon the River Styles framework, river types were differentiated based upon valley setting (width and confinement), channel planform, geomorphic unit assemblages and bed material size. From this, the behavioural regime and potential for adjustment (type and extent) were determined. Historical maps and aerial photographs were geo-rectified and the channel planform digitised to assess channel adjustments for each reach from 1928 to 2007. Floodplain width controlled by terraces, exerted a strong influence upon reach scale sensitivity for the partly-confined, wandering, cobble-bed river. Although forced boundaries occur infrequently, the width of the active channel zone is constrained. An unconfined braided river reach directly downstream of the terrace-confined section was the most geomorphically sensitive reach. The channel in this reach adjusted recurrently to sediment inputs that were flushed through more confined, better connected upstream reaches. A meandering, sand-bed river in downstream reaches has exhibited negligible rates of channel migration. However, channel narrowing in this reach and the associated delta indicate that the system is approaching a threshold condition, beyond which channel avulsion is likely to occur. As this would trigger more rapid migration, this reach is considered to be more geomorphically sensitive than analysis of its low migration rate alone would indicate. This demonstrates how sensitivity is fashioned both by the behavioural regime of a reach

Natural runs of salmonids in the Columbia River basin have decreased as a result of hydroelectric-dam development, poor land- and forest-management, and over-fishing. This has necessitated increased salmon culture to assure adequate numbers of returning adults. Hatchery procedures and facilities are continually being modified to improve both the efficiency of production and the quality of juveniles produced. Initial efforts to evaluate changes in hatchery procedures were dependent upon adult contributions to the fishery and returns to the hatchery. Procedures were developed for sampling juvenile salmon and steelhead entering the Columbia River estuary and ocean plume. The sampling of hatchery fish at the terminus of their freshwater migration assisted in evaluating hatchery production techniques and identifying migrational or behavioral characteristics that influence survival to and through the estuary. The sampling program attempted to estimate survival of different stocks and define various aspects of migratory behavior in a large river, with flows during the spring freshet from 4 to 17 thousand cubic meters per second (m/sup 3//second).

Theory of local adaptation predicts that non-adapted migrants will suffer increased costs compared to local residents. Ultimately this process can result in the reduction of gene flow and culminate in speciation. Here, we experimentally investigated the relative fitness of migrants in foreign habitats, focusing on diverging lake and river ecotypes of three-spined sticklebacks. A reciprocal transplant experiment performed in the field revealed asymmetric costs of migration: while mortality of river fish was increased under lake conditions, lake migrants suffered from reduced growth relative to river residents. Selection against migrants thus involved different traits in each habitat but generally contributed to bidirectional reduction in gene flow. Focusing particularly on the parasitic environments, migrant fish differed from resident fish in the parasite community they harboured. This pattern correlated with both cellular phenotypes of innate immunity as well as with allelic variation at the genes of the major histocompatibility complex. In addition to showing the costs of migration in three-spined sticklebacks, this study highlights the role of asymmetric selection particularly from parasitism in genotype sorting and in the emergence of local adaptation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A reduced-volume antenna composed of a meandered-line dipole antenna over a finite-width, high-impedance surface is presented. The structure is novel in that the high-impedance surface is implemented with four Sievenpiper via-mushroom unit cells, whose area is optimized to match the meandered-line dipole antenna. The result is an antenna similar in performance to patch antenna but one fourth the area that can be deployed directly on the surface of a conductor. Simulations demonstrate a 3.5 cm ({lambda}/4) square antenna with a bandwidth of 4% and a gain of 4.8 dBi at 2.5 GHz.

About 700 cases of wind direction meander occurred in a three-year period during onshore flow at a Long Island coastal site. Most appeared to be caused by internal gravity waves but some by roll vortices. Each case was documented with respect to data, time, wind speed, wind direction and stability, and described by duration, number of waves, angular amplitude and period. Hourly wind data for the same years were examined to determine the frequency of onshore flows.

With a catchment basin of 112,120 km^2 and a length of 1012 km, the Loire River is one of the most important fluvial hydrosystems in France. Notwithstanding numerous modifications (dikes, dams, nuclear power plants, gravel extractions), the Loire River hydrology has been saved from a total regularisation. Therefore, the spatial diversity of fluvial landforms creates a patchwork of wetlands: ox-bow lakes, dewatered channels... As one aim of this work was to determine the hydrological and sedimentological processes in the various wetlands, in a context of spatial variability of the fluvial landforms, we used a pluridisciplinarity approach: geomorphology, hydrology, geochemistry. The present study has targeted the functioning between the various hydro-geomorphologic units of the floodplain (main and secondary active channels, abandoned branches and the riverbank [alluvial] and perched aquifers), with regard to the spatial heterogeneity of the different fluxes and the temporal variations of bottom water level, full-bank stage and overflow discharge. In the upper part of the study area, mobile meanders prevail. The meandersmigration results in oxbow lakes and the connection between the lakes and the other water reservoirs (e.g. river- and groundwaters) induce a strong lateral variability and a time delayed water input by the river as evidenced by the different geochemical and isotopic signatures. Downstream, the Loire River develops a multiple-channels pattern, of which numerous are abandoned. They are often dewatered along the year, only reconnected to the main channel during the periods of overflow discharges and the influence of the Loire riverwater is progressively substituted by the input of groundwaters (alluvial and perched aquifers). It appears that the submersion duration and the type of connection between the wetlands and the various reservoirs (inlet or outlet connection with the river, connection with the aquifers.) strongly influence the sedimentation rate

Flow measurements were collected in the wake of the utility-scale (2.5MW) Eolos wind turbine using a ground-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) wind profiler to identify the characteristics of wake meandering at the field scale. The investigation seeks to establish the influence of scale and atmospheric turbulence on wake meandering, which has been observed to leave a strong spectral signature on laboratory measurements in wind tunnel and channel flows. The experimental data include multiple test periods at various downstream distances within the turbine wake. Inflow conditions were assessed using a meteorological tower equipped with sonic anemometers. Additionally, an experiment was conducted in the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel to provide a direct comparison for the utility-scale results and to reaffirm the findings of previous laboratory-scale investigations. Estimates of the wake and inflow one-dimensional velocity spectra were compared to determine whether wake meandering characteristics are present at both scales. An empirical correction to the velocity spectra of the LiDAR and a few options to extract a more local velocity signal are discussed to compensate for the inherent limitations of LiDAR in capturing turbulent fluctuations.

Even after 155 years, each population segment seasonally migrates toward the other attempting to maintain the natural connection. Migration timing and style of pre-spawning and post-spawning males and females is discussed, as is homing. The impact of Holyoke Dam on population size and growth is characterized and turbine mortality of adult sturgeon passing through a Kaplan turbine at the dam is estimated. The chapter also identifies a behavioral dysfunction that results when migrations are blocked by a dam and are not completed at the correct stage of life. Many unknown effects of damming on other long-lived riverine fishes are likely captured in this 16-year study.

This is the second phase of a two-part study that was conducted by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in contractual agreement with Bonneville Power Administration to address measures of the Northwest Power Planning Council's River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Objectives were to determine instream flow needs in Kootenai River tributaries to maintain successful fish migration, spawning and rearing habitat of game fish, evaluate existing resident and rearing fish populations, and compile hydrologic and fishery information required to secure legal reservation of water for the fishery source. The Kootenai River fishery is threatened by microhydro and other water use development which reduce tributary habitat critical for maintaining a healthy spawning and rearing environment. The wetted perimeter method was used to estimate flows required to maintain existing resident and migratory fish populations in 28 tributaries to the Kootenai River. Migrant passage flows were determined using the discharge-average depth relationship at four (usually five) riffle transects. This information will provide the basis to reserve water through application to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. 45 figs., 56 tabs.

There is a great body of experimental work showing how bed forms modulate bed roughness, flow field structure, and sediment transport rates in straight flumes. Recently, it was observed that migrating bed forms produce temporal and spatial peaks of shear stresses along the outer bank of an experimental meandering channel. These stresses are about 50% larger than the shear stresses exerted by the mean near-bank flow. As fluvial erosion bank erosion rates are typically linearly related to applied shear stress, the migration rate of the bend may be significantly increased. However, this hypothesis has never been tested in the field, where bed forms could be more complex than those found in experimental cases. Herein, only fluvial erosion is considered, while geotechnical processes occurring at the outer bank are not accounted for. Detailed measurements of hydrodynamics (using acoustic Doppler profiler), bed morphology (using multibeam and RTK GPS) and bank morphology (using laser scanner) were conducted at two bends on the Wabash River along the Illinois and Indiana Stateline. The bed morphology exhibited different scales of bed forms, ranging from dunes to ripples. Using Wavelet analysis to discriminate the bed morphology it was possible to separate the ripples and dunes structures resulting in a bed without bed forms, which shows the typical erosion (outer bank)/deposition (inner bank) arrangement in meandering channels. Using a fully three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) numerical model, two cases are simulated: [1] bend with bed forms, and [2] bend without bed forms to test the above hypothesis. The results show that the three-dimensional flow field is compares well to that observed for both scenarios. Further, peaks in shear stresses along the outer bank are indeed observed, which are correlated to the location of the bed forms with respect to the bend. Further conclusion and its importance for long-term morphodynamics of meandering channels

The development of chute cutoffs and the resulting abandonment of meander bends have a substantial influence on the sedimentary dynamics of floodplains. The incision of a chute cutoff channel can rapidly mobilize a large volume of floodplain sediment. On the other hand, bar formation during bend abandonment and the subsequent deposition of sediment within the oxbow lake are key processes in the production of a heterogeneous floodplain sedimentary architecture. This paper describes the evolution of two recent chute cutoffs on the Wabash River, IL-IN. We follow these cutoffs from their initial incision in 2008-2009 through the early stages of bend abandonment. The volume of floodplain sediment mobilized by erosion of the two cutoff channels is estimated using channel bankline positions determined from RTK-GPS surveys and aerial orthophotographs; this flux is then assessed within the context of the sediment mobilized by lateral migration of bends. Repeat bathymetric surveys and aerial photography capture the evolution of bar forms associated with the chute cutoff, and data from ground-penetrating radar reveal the subsurface structure of the complex assemblage of bars that developed as the chute cutoff system shifted from a predominantly erosional to a mixed depositional-erosional phase. These results are combined with knowledge of chute cutoff hydrodynamics to develop an understanding of the dynamics of sediment exchange between river channels and floodplains at evolving meander bend cutoffs.

Current management of the Klamath River includes prescribed minimum discharges intended partly to increase survival of juvenile coho salmon during their seaward migration in the spring. To determine if fish survival was related to river discharge, we estimated apparent survival and migration rates of yearling coho salmon in the Klamath River downstream of Iron Gate Dam. The primary goals were to determine if discharge at Iron Gate Dam affected coho salmon survival and if results from hatchery fish could be used as a surrogate for the limited supply of wild fish. Fish from hatchery and wild origins that had been surgically implanted with radio transmitters were released into the Klamath River slightly downstream of Iron Gate Dam at river kilometer 309. Tagged fish were used to estimate apparent survival between, and passage rates at, a series of detection sites as far downstream as river kilometer 33. Conclusions were based primarily on data from hatchery fish, because wild fish were only available in 2 of the 4 years of study. Based on an information-theoretic approach, apparent survival of hatchery and wild fish was similar, despite differences in passage rates and timing, and was lowest in the 54 kilometer (km) reach between release and the Scott River. Models representing the hypothesis that a short-term tagging- or handling-related mortality occurred following release were moderately supported by data from wild fish and weakly supported by data from hatchery fish. Estimates of apparent survival of hatchery fish through the 276 km study area ranged from 0.412 (standard error [SE] 0.048) to 0.648 (SE 0.070), depending on the year, and represented an average of 0.790 per 100 km traveled. Estimates of apparent survival of wild fish through the study area were 0.645 (SE 0.058) in 2006 and 0.630 (SE 0.059) in 2009 and were nearly identical to the results from hatchery fish released on the same dates. The data and models examined supported positive effects of water

Migratory freshwater shrimps represent important links between the headwaters and estuaries of many tropical rivers. These species exhibit amphidromous life cycles in which larvae are released by females in upper reaches of rivers; first stage (i.e., newly hatched) larvae drift passively to coastal environments where they develop and metamorphose into postlarvae...

In this study we investigated floodplain development at the confluence of the Paraná and Ivaí rivers, Brazil. We evaluated paleochannels with sedimentary facies and morphometry from cartographic products, which enabled us to identify compartments that indicate homologous morphogenesis. These results contributed to the distinction in the floodplain of areas reworked by the Paraná, Ivaí, or both river systems. Additionally, investigations that included dating deposits on the terrace that borders the floodplain and an alluvial fan (also in contact with the floodplain) reinforced the interpretation of the fluvial landscape. The identified stages of geomorphological evolution demonstrated the existence of a paleoconfluence of the Paraná and Ivaí rivers during the late Pleistocene that was located 6 km upstream from the current confluence. This paleoconfluence displays a different configuration in relation to the current confluence, and its features resemble and contribute to understanding the former braided channel pattern of the Paraná River. The abandonments of the Paraná River channels identified in this study were initial and crucial process in the development of the floodplain. This channel change favored the formation of extensive wetlands and consequently the confluence migration, which resulted in the fluvial reworking indicated by the paleochannels of the Ivaí River. Another implication from the confluence migration was a base level fall, which contributed to maintaining the stability of the Ivaí River and its embedded meanders. In addition, inve